Luke chapter 23 again. We were
there this morning. We're going to continue in this
chapter. Luke chapter 23. And tonight we're going to see
God's distinguishing grace. The message is called distinguishing
grace displayed. Distinguishing grace displayed.
This morning we looked at chapter 23 here and we saw a clear picture
of substitution in the release of Brabus. and the Lord Jesus
Christ dying in His place. Now let's read from verses 26
to 49. And as they led Him away, they laid
hold upon one Simon, a Syrian, coming out of the country. And
on him they laid the cross, that he might bear it after Jesus. And there followed Him a great
company of people and of women, which also bewailed and lamented
Him. But Jesus, turning unto them,
said, Daughters of Jerusalem, weep not for me. What a statement. Weep not for me, but weep for
yourselves and for your children. For behold, the days are coming
in which they shall say, blessed are the barren and the wombs
that never bear and the paps which never gave suck. Then shall
they begin to say to the mountains, fall on us, and to the hills,
cover us. For if they do these things in
the green tree, what shall be done in the dry? And there were
also two malefactors led with him to be put to death. And when
they were come to a place which is called Calvary, there they
crucified. 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 rammet and cast lots. And the people stood beholding,
and the rulers also with them deraided him, saying, He saved
others, let him save himself, if he be Christ, the chosen of
God. And the soldiers also mocked
him, coming to him and offering him vinegar, and saying, If thou
be king of the Jews, save thyself. And a superscription also was
written over him in letters in Greek, Latin, and Hebrew, This
is the king of the Jews. And one of the malefactors which
were hanged railed on him, saying, If thou be Christ, save thyself
and us. But the other answering rebuked
him, saying, Dost thou not fear God, seeing thou art in the same
condemnation? And we indeed justly For we received
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 thou shalt be with me in
paradise. And it was about the sixth hour,
and there was darkness over all the earth, and the sun was darkened,
and the veil of the temple was rent in the midst. And when Jesus
had cried with a loud voice, he said, Into thy hands I commend
my spirit. And having said thus, he gave
up the ghost. Now when the centurion saw what
was done, he glorified God, saying, certainly this was a righteous
man. And all the people that came
together to that site, beholding the things which were done, smote
their breasts and returned. And all his acquaintance and
the woman that followed him from Galilee stood afar off, beholding
these things. Beloved, as an introduction to
this lesson, we need to be reminded of these very important God-honoring
truths. Jesus Christ is God, our Creator, who left the splendors and the
glory of heaven to come to this world to mantle himself with the body
of flesh. And our Lord had to become a
man so that he could establish a righteousness for his chosen
people. He had to come. He had to come,
otherwise we would not have a righteousness that would make us fit to be
in the presence of God. He had to come. And he did. And he wrought out a perfect
righteousness for his people by his perfect obedience to the
will of God the Father. Moreover, our Lord became a man
so that he could redeem us. So that he could purchase us
with his own precious blood. He redeemed us from the curse
of the law. Let us never forget that. Let us never forget that
it took the death of Christ to redeem us from the curse of the
law. That's what it took. The death of the God man. And
the only death that would satisfy the holy justice of God was the
death of his darling son, the Lord Jesus Christ, the pure,
spotless Lamb of God. God cannot die, so the Son of
God becomes a man, becomes a man, so that he could lay down his
life for us. Wonder of wonders, wonder of
wonders belong. And it was for this very reason
that He came into this world, to die for us. You notice what
He said to those ladies? Weep not for me. Why? Because He's on a mission. He
knows what He must do. He's here in this portion of
Scripture when He turns to them and says that. He knows that
He's going to the cross to die for His bride. for those whom
He's loved from eternity. Again, this love, the greatest
manifestation of love was at Calvary's cross. The love that
God the Father has for His people by sending His Son to die for
us, and the fact that the Lord Jesus Christ, God incarnate in
the flesh, the Son of God, the second person of the Trinity,
the Word of God, became flesh to die for His bride. to purchase
her with his own precious blood. And he's loved her from eternity.
Remember that we who are the people of God, remember that
we've been loved from eternity. And Christ manifested his love
for us by giving his life for us. I don't think anything ever compares
to that. Nothing. It's incredible. And also remember
this, too. That's where we get started.
Our Lord had no sin of His own. He's perfect. He's spotless.
He's sinless. He's the Lamb of God, perfect in all ways. Everything
about Him is pleasing in the sight of God. Think of that in
opposite to us. In our natural state, nothing
in us is pleasing to God. Isn't that incredible? Now these two thieves, they must
have been filled with fear of what was waiting for them. Think
of that. They must have been filled with
fear of what was waiting for them. They knew their day of
execution was coming. That's why for Brabus when they
said you can go free, he must have been shocked. They knew. I could just imagine
the jailers tormenting them. Your day is coming. It's getting
closer. It's only a few days away. They knew. They knew their day
was coming. But our Lord, we saw in Hebrews
12, 3, that He delighted to do the Father's will. He took joy
in that which was set before Him. Because He's going to the
cross to redeem His people from their sins. The joy that was
set before Him was His chosen people. His chosen people, us. We who are the redeemed of the
Lord. His church. You and me, if our
faith is true faith in Christ, you and I. My, it brings us low, doesn't
it? It's humbling, but yet it fills
us with joy to know that Christ done that for us. And how thankful we should be
that the Lord Jesus Christ would not be turned away from the painful
struggle of climbing to the top of Mount Calvary. And he knew
what was waiting for him, beloved. He knew what was waiting for
Him. He endured the wrath of God in
our place. He was forsaken of the Father
so that we would never be forsaken of God. Never. My. He endured the cross so that
nothing could be laid to our charge. Absolutely nothing. He
endured all that for us. for his people. He went to the
cross willingly. Weep not for me. And remember,
when he says that, the scripture says his face, as I was reading
for this study, they were saying that his face, John Gale said
his face was so beaten, like no other man had ever been beaten. Oh my. Oh my. And he turns to them and says,
Weep not for me. He went to the cross willingly
to purchase our eternal souls. To purchase the souls of his
bride. Why? So that we who are sinners would
be acceptable in God's sight. Look at verses 27 to 31, and
we see what the Lord says to the woman again who followed
Him and bewailed Him and lamented Him. And there followed Him a
great company of people, and of women, which also bewailed
and lamented Him. But Jesus, turning unto them,
said to others of Jerusalem, Weep not for Me. Remember, He's
beaten to a pulp. And He turns to them and says,
Don't weep for Me. Weep not for Me. But weep for yourselves and
for your children. For behold, the days are coming
in which they shall say, blessed are the barren and the wombs
that never bear and the paps which never gave suck. Then shall
they begin to say to the mountains, fall on us and to the hills,
cover us. For if they do these things in a green tree, what
shall be done in the dry? Again, we see by his statement
to them that just as the Old Testament says, his face is set
like a flint to Jerusalem. His face is set like a flint
to go to that cross. It's like he's set in stone,
beloved. And he's going to redeem those
who the Father gave him in eternity. And if you're a believer, you're
one of that number. Oh, my. He's going to accomplish
the mission which He came to fulfill. To save His people from their
sins. Look at verses 32 and 33 and
we see the sinless, perfect, innocent substitute will be crucified
with two who are guilty according to the law of man and God. And
there are also two other malefactors. Guilty ones. Guilty ones. Guilty by the law of man and
guilty by the law of God. Led with Him to be put to death.
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 remnant and cast lots." Now these two thieves
were both railing against our Lord. But we see God's distinguishing
grace at work. We see a very clear manifestation
of God's distinguishing grace. And when they come to the place
which is called Calvary, Crucified him and the malefactors, one
on the right hand and the other on the left. Again, we know from other scriptures
that they were both railing at the Lord. Both of them were railing
on the Lord. But one of these thieves, beloved,
one of these thieves was chosen in Christ before the foundation
of the world. You wouldn't think so when they're
both railing on the Lord, eh? Oh my. And this thief had no
idea that he was one of the lost sheep of God. He had absolutely
no idea. He didn't have a clue. But we
will see God's sovereign grace at work, beloved. And what a
wonderful picture we have here. Notice the scripture proclaims,
they came to the place which is called Calvary. They came
to the place which was ordained by our sovereign God, that the
Lord Jesus Christ, the second person of the Trinity, the Word
of God, God incarnate in the flesh, they came to the place
that was ordained by God for him to die. Never forget that
too. Even the very place where he
was put to death was ordained by our great God. Calvary. Calvary is where he would die
in the place of his bride. A place distinguished from all
other places, a place where they crucified our Lord. And that's the place, beloved,
where His blood washed away all the sins of His chosen people. That's the place where our Savior
gave Himself a ransom price in full for all His chosen people. And that's the place where the
final fulfillment of all the conditions of the eternal covenant
of grace were met. It is finished. It means there's nothing to be
added. And beloved, that is the place
where our Savior redeemed us. Where He purchased us. where
He bought us, and we're bought with a price, right? The precious
blood of Christ. Calvary is where He purchased
us. Let's read verses 33 to 43. 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 remnant and cast lots and the people
stood beholding and The rulers also with them deraided him saying
he saved others let him save himself if he be Christ the chosen
of God and the soldiers also mocked him coming to him and
offering him vinegar and Saying if thou be king of the Jews save
thyself And the superscription also was written over him in
letters of Greek and Latin and Hebrew. This is King of the Jews. And one of the malefactors which
were hanged railed on him, saying, If thou be Christ, save thyself
and us. But the other answering rebuked
him, saying, Dost thou not fear God, seeing thou art in the same
condemnation? And we indeed justly, for we
receive the due reward of our deeds. But this man hath done
nothing amiss. And he said unto Jesus, Lord,
remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom. And Jesus said
unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Today thou shalt be
with me in paradise. Oh, what wonderful words! What wonderful words! Turn, if
you would, to Matthew 27. Now we know in comparing Scripture
with Scripture that both thieves were railing on the Lord at first.
And in the passage that we're going to read here, the hatred
towards the Lord Jesus Christ that was in the hearts of both
thieves is brought forth. Both thieves railed on Him at
first. Matthew 27, verses 43 to 44 says this, He trusted in
God, let Him deliver Him now, He will have Him. For He said,
I am the Son of God. The thieves also which were crucified
with Him cast the same in His teeth. There they are, both railing
on Him. Okay. Both of them railing. But then, what did we see? Oh, God's sovereign, amazing
grace we see at work here. And why did both these rail on
them? Well, because the scripture says the carnal mind is enmity
against God for is not subject to the law of God. Neither indeed
can be so. So then they that are in the
flesh cannot please God. We all fell in Adam. We come
into this world dead and trespasses and sins and enmity with God. And the scripture declares this
of all humanity. Notice in verse 39, let's go
back to our text, the scriptures say that one of the malefactors
which were hanged railed on him and railed there saying, if thou
be Christ, save thyself and us. But now let's read verses 40
and 42. Now remember, we just read where both of them were
railing, right? Both of them were railing on Christ at first.
But something's occurred. Something's happened. Look at
this in verses 40 and 42. But the other answering rebuked
him, saying, Dost thou not fear God? See thou art in the same
condition, and we indeed justly, for we received 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.
So again, we know from Matthew 27 that both thieves at first
were railing on Christ, both manifested the same natural hateful
spirit against the Christ of God that natural man has. And marvel at this now, suddenly
for no reason known to unregenerate men and women, one of the thieves
all of a sudden is manifesting a different spirit. He's manifesting, look at that,
but the other answer, he rebuked him. A little while before, they
were both railing together. Now though, but the other answered
rebuked him, saying, dost thou not fear God, seeing thou art
in the same condemnation? And we indeed justly, for we
receive the due reward of our deeds, but this man hath done
nothing amiss. And he said unto Jesus, Lord,
remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom. What happened? What distinguished
this one thief from the other? As I said earlier, beloved, this
is a clear manifestation, a display of God's distinguishing grace.
Which is set here before us, who made the difference, God
made the difference. God made the difference. God
had done a heartwork on this thief. One is born again by the
Holy Spirit of God. God has passed by one thief.
Leaving him with his heart of stone. And he's given the other a heart
of flesh like scripture proclaims. To love the Lord. Think of us
in our own families. I have brothers and family members
who have no care for God. No care at all. And yet I love
the Lord. I know it's so for you too and your families. Who
made us to differ? The same God that has made this
thief differ is the same God who's made us to differ by His
grace and by His mercy. And it's amazing. It's absolutely
amazing. We marvel at this. We marvel
at this. So we have a clear picture here
that it's God's grace that makes us to differ. He had mercy upon
one thief and not the other. Now is there anything good in
this penitent thief who's received mercy to merit this grace? Is
there anything in him to merit this grace? I ask you, is there
anything in you or I to merit the grace that God's given us?
None. Nothing. As a matter of fact, when you
look at the circumstances, they were both railing on the Lord,
they both condemned criminals, sentenced to death by the law,
and the sentence was now being executed. The last people you'd
think, the penitent thief is the last person you'd think that
would receive this grace, but he's a chosen, one of God's chosen
people in Christ from eternity. The only thing that made these
two thieves to differ is God's grace and God's mercy. And we're
seeing here that he's showing mercy to one and not the other.
Why? Well, because the scriptures proclaim this. I will have mercy
on whom I have mercy and I'll have compassion on whom I have
compassion. So then it's not of him that will us. So there
goes free will, nor of him that run it. There goes works, but
of God show with mercy. Romans chapter nine, verses 15
and 16. God. had mercy upon one thief, not
the other. Let's bring it home. God has
had mercy on we who believe, and not others in our lives.
And we keep praying for them, don't we? Never stop praying
for your family members until they breathe their last breath,
beloved, because we do not know who God's people are. Just keep
lifting them up, keep praying. We beg God to save our family
members and friends who don't know Christ, don't we? We say,
Lord, if it be Thy will. Oh my. But God has mercy on whom
we have mercy. We have compassion on whom we
have compassion. What did our Lord say in Matthew chapter 11?
Turn there, if you would. Matthew chapter 11. Look at verses
25 and 27. Matthew chapter 11, verses 25 and 27. Listen to what
our Lord says here. Matthew 11. Verses 25 to 27. He says this. I thank the old father, Lord
of heaven and earth, because I was hit these things from the
wise and prudent and has revealed them unto babes. Even so, father,
for it seemed good in my sight. My goodness. It's think of that. Bring it
home. It seemed good in God's sight to to give us grace, to
grant us faith, to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. All things are delivered unto
me of my father, and no man knoweth the son, but the father. Neither
knoweth any man the father, save the son. And he to whomsoever
the son will what? Reveal him. Marvel at these truths. Our Lord
revealed himself to one of these thieves, but he did not reveal
himself to the other. One of these thieves was included
in the eternal covenant of grace and the other was not. One of these thieves was redeemed
by the precious blood of the Lord Jesus Christ and the other
was not. One of these thieves was a recipient
of God's grace and the other was not. One of these thieves
was an object of God's mercy and the other was not. One of these thieves was quickened
by God the Holy Spirit, born again, granted faith to believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ, and the other was not. So we see here before us a picture
of God's distinguishing grace. And it's evidenced by the actions
of the penitent thief, by his words. Well, look at that. Take
note, instead of using his mouth with hateful words, which we
know he was doing at the beginning, because he was rallying on Christ
with the other thief. What does the penitent thief
now do? The one who is born again by the Holy Spirit of God. Instead
of using his mouth with hateful words against the Christ of God,
he uses his mouth to rebuke the other thief. Does thou not fear God, seeing
thou art in the same condemnation? But the other answering rebuked
him. Look at verse 40. But the other answering rebuked
him, saying, Dost thou not fear God, seeing thou art in the same
condemnation? And then take note of verse 41
where we see God's grace evidenced in the penitent thief. He's been
born again by the Holy Spirit of God and by the words which
he says to the thief who is railing on the Lord. And we indeed justly. What's he see? He sees his sinfulness
before God. He says, we're here, we're getting
what we deserve. For we receive the due reward
of our deeds. The wages of sin is what? Death.
But the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our
Lord. But look at this, but this man has done nothing amiss. So we see here the penitent thief has a new
heart. He's now confessed that he was getting what he deserved.
And he didn't vault himself above the other thief. Look what he
says here. He didn't say, well, you old
sinner. Did he? No, look what he said. Look what
he said. He said, and we indeed justly. See, this is why when people
say about God's people, you all think you're a bunch of hooligans.
Now, you don't know how we think. No, we know we're sinners. We
know we're sinners by birth. We know we're sinners by nature,
and we know we're sinners by choice. And we still struggle
with sin even after we've been saved. And so you see this thief,
he's saying, he's lopping himself in the other, he says, we're
getting what we deserve. And we indeed justly, for we
receive the due reward of our deeds. And these two thieves, These two thieves are condemned
to die. And the thief with the new heart
was convicted by the power of God the Holy Spirit. He now knows
that not only had he sinned against God, he knows he deserves to
die. He knows he deserves to die. He says, we're getting what
we deserve. And we indeed justly. where we
receive the due reward of our deeds. He knew the other thief had sinned
against God, too, and he knew he deserved to die just like
him. And unregenerate men and women will always justify their
sinful ways. They'll always come up with excuses
why they do what they do. It's not until we're born again
that we see ourselves as hell-deserving sinners, unworthy of the mercy
and grace of God. And it's God who makes the difference
in every single believer's life. The same one who made the difference
between these two thieves is the same God who makes a difference
in every believer's life. It's God who makes the difference.
For who made you to differ? God made us to differ. And what
do you have that you didn't receive? Oh my. And like the penitent thief,
by God's grace, The believer in Christ will confess that if
God cast us into the lake of fire, which is the second death,
we'd be getting just what we deserve. And take note also that the penitent
thief here proclaims the sinlessness of Christ. Note this in verse
41. We indeed justly, for we receive
the due rewards of our deeds. But this man hath done nothing
amiss. Beloved, he's professing the sinlessness of Christ. And take note of verse 42 here
also. Evidences of the grace of God
in the heart of the penitent. In the way that cannot be denied,
look at what he says to the Lord. And he said unto Jesus, Lord,
remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom. Marvel at the
great change here. Remember, at first he's railing
with the other thief on Christ. Marvel at the great change that
has occurred here. A mighty work of God has been
performed. This thief at first was railing
on the Lord, but now this hell-deserving thief knew that Jesus Christ
is Lord. Look at it says, and he said
unto Jesus, Lord. He called him Lord. Lord, remember me when thou comest
into thy kingdom. He confesses him as Lord. And
think upon this, when He said these words, He had to know that
Jesus Christ was King of Kings. He had to know that He is our
Lord. He confesses His love. How did
the thief know these wonderful truths about the Lord Jesus Christ?
Well, let's look at verses 35 to 38. Look at this. And the
people stood beholding, and the rulers also with Him, derided
Him, saying, He saved others. Let him save himself if he be
Christ, the chosen of God. Now there's some truth in their
statement there, isn't there? He did save others. And little
did they know, he's saving a multitude of people that no man can number
while he's dying on the cross right there before them. And
there's also truth when they said, if he be Christ, the chosen
of God, he is the Christ and he is the chosen of God. And
the soldiers also mocked him, coming to him offering him vinegar,
and saying, if thou be king of the Jews, save thyself. He is
king of the Jews. He's king of spiritual Israel,
isn't he? Oh my, oh my beloved. And a superscription was also
written over him in letters of Greek, in Latins, in Hebrew,
this is king of the Jews. Yes it is. Is he your king? He's my king. Amen. He's the
king. He's the king of kings and the
Lord of lords. So these people deraided our
Lord. And deraided there, I looked
it up in the Greek, deraided there is to turn your nose up
at someone. Think of that. I was talking
to Brother Roy about that before service. They were turning their
nose up at the Lord of glory. My goodness. And I said to Roy,
we were talking about that, the depravity of man's on full display.
And we know we were in that state at one time too, until God saved
us. Nope, they said he saved others,
let him save himself if he'd be Christ the chosen of God.
And here is the chosen one of God, redeeming his people from
all their sins, saving his people from their sins, giving his life
for his sheep. And these men are turning their
noses up to him. Oh my. And then the soldiers
are mocking him, saying, if thou be king of the Jews, save thyself. Well, he saved others. He saved others. This is a true
statement. As one commentator brings forth,
the Holy Spirit made this effectual, knowing that... One commentator
said that possibly the thief had thought, well if he had the
power to save others, he could save me. He's born again, hey. Oh yeah, he can save me. He can
save me. So it's obvious that these unbelieving
Jews did not believe that Jesus was the Christ, the chosen God,
but these truths reached the ears of the penitent thief, and
the Holy Spirit revealed Christ to him. How? All by his sovereign,
almighty power. This thief was like a brand pluck
from the fire. And so is every one of us. Yeah,
we are. Oh, my. Now, think of this. Considering God's distinguishing
grace, the other thief heard the same truths. The other the
others saw the same superscription, but they made no effect on none. It's only God's distinguishing
grace that makes us to differ. That's the only thing that makes
us to differ. As the Apostle Paul wrote, by the grace of God,
I am what I am. And that's true for every single
believer. We are born again, blood washed saints, all by the
power of God. And let us look at our Lord's
response to this penitent thief, to one of his lost sheep that's
now being found. And we see his answer to the
plea of one of his sheep. Think of this. This is a plea
of one of his sheep. Lord, remember me when thou comest
into thy kingdom. Just remember me. Just remember
me. And here we see God's amazing,
absolute sovereign grace on display. The thief on the cross went to
heaven's glory, beloved, the moment he closed his eyes in
death." Why? He'd never been baptized, and
that really creates a problem for those folks who believe that
you can't go to heaven unless you get baptized. He never walked
an aisle or prayed a prayer. He didn't repeat some Romans
road that folks get people to repeat. He didn't do that. No. The thief on the cross never
spoke in tongues and that creates a problem for people who say
you have to speak in tongues to be saved. Creates a huge problem,
doesn't it? No. This thief on the cross went
to paradise, to heaven's glory that very same day. Our Lord
said to him, verily, verily I say unto thee, today thou shalt be
with me in paradise. Today. May God help us to apply this
comforting truth to our own hearts, beloved. To our own hearts. We'll wake up in glory the same
day we breathe our last breath on this earth. The same day we go through the
doormark death. will be in the presence of the
Lord. All because of what Christ has done. The Apostle Paul said
in 2 Corinthians 5.8, We are confident, I say, and willing,
rather than to be absent from the body, and to be present with
the Lord. All by God's marvelous, distinguishing
grace in Christ. Heavenly Father, we thank you
for the time that we've had to go through this chapter today.
Oh, what a great blessing it is. Oh, Lord, we see what we
saw tonight, Your distinguishing grace on display. Both these
were railing on You, O Lord, but one of them, one of them
was an object of Thy love, O Lord, from eternity. And we are Your
people, we marvel in the fact that we were objects of Thy love
from eternity. We know what you saved us from.
We know who we were and what we were. We know we still struggle
even now after we're saved. But oh Lord, you are so full
of grace and so full of mercy towards your people. We pray
that you would use this message for your glory and for your honor
and for your praise. In Jesus name, amen.