I want you to turn tonight for
a few minutes in the book of Luke. Luke chapter 23. Luke 23. And I'll be reading beginning
with verse 39. And one of the male factors,
which were hanged, railed on him, saying, If thou be Christ,
save thyself and us. But the other, answering, rebuked
him, saying, Dost not thou fear God, seeing
thou art in the same condemnation? And we indeed justly, 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 you, today shall thou be with me in
paradise. During the recent hurricane,
I was listening to one of the reporters on the scene And he was speaking about Key
West and the destruction that was there. And he said something like, where
this was once a paradise. He said, it's now paradise lost. And I believe he was referring
actually to John Milton's poem, which was entitled Paradise Loss. But Milton's poem was not about
an earthly place called Paradise Loss. Milton was actually writing
about the fall of man. The fall in the garden. Maybe
somewhat poetically, but basically the sad state to which man fell
in the garden. Turn back with me for a minute
to the book of Genesis. Genesis chapter 3, where we read
these words in verse 23 and 24. So he drove out the man, and
he placed at the east of the Garden of Eden cherubims and
a flaming sword, which turned every way to keep the way of
the Tree of Life. Man was cast out of the presence
of God. He was cast out of the garden. He was separated from God. And he left this real paradise. The word paradise is used three
times in the New Testament. But it means what it means in
the light of this third chapter of Genesis. It actually means
something like a park. A park. Strong's defines it as especially
in Eden, a place of future happiness. It was a place of present happiness
for Adam, but it really was paradise lost when he fell because of
sin. And not only did he fall, but
because he was a representative man, every other man and woman
that would ever be on the earth apart from Christ fell in him,
was cast out, it says, drove out of the garden because of
sin. But when you look back at verse
22, it says, and the Lord said, behold, the man is become as
one of us to know good and evil. And now, lest he put forth his
hand and take also of the tree of life and eat and live forever. In other words, God cast Adam
and Eve out of the garden, and He barred the garden, and He
let them not take of this tree of life, lest they live forever. And if He had not done that,
There would never have been the multitude of sinners born that
were born. There never would have been the
grace of God in salvation shown to some of those sinners. There
never would be the thing that God is glorified most in, his
greatest glory, which is his grace in Christ, and his mercy,
his sovereign mercy, would never have been displayed, it would
never have been experienced, it would never have been magnified. God's greatest glory would not
have been shown. And this man, this thief that
we've read about in our text, he never would have been saved. But he's not an ordinary man
himself. He's a picture of every sinner
that God saves. He's a picture of all of God's
elect. And he's a picture of his salvation,
and he is a picture of one who comes to know the grace of God
in Jesus Christ. He shows us that salvation is
of the Lord. He shows us that salvation is
by the Lord Jesus Christ, and he shows us that salvation is
all of grace. I want us to notice what Christ
says to him in answer to his request. In verse 42, he says
unto Jesus, Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom. And with one statement to this
man, In one statement, Christ speaks
grace and mercy and peace to his soul. He says unto him, barely
I say unto thee, today shalt thou be with me in paradise. That word barely simply means
truly, truly. And I want us to notice just
quickly four things here in this statement. Four things that assure that
God gets all the glory in every one of us that he saves. Number one. When was he to be with Christ
in paradise? He says today. Today, without any preparation,
today, without any delay, today, without any such things as purgatory,
today, without any such things as a soul sleep or anything else,
any kind of preparationism, today, He was fit for heaven today. He was promised heaven, paradise
today when he died and when the Lord Jesus Christ died. And Paul says it in much the
same way in 2 Corinthians 5 when he says, we are confident, I
say, and willing rather to be absent from the body and to be
present with the Lord. I can't explain all the mysteries. all the transformation, all the
things that go on at death for a believer. But it is this, to
be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord. He
said, today shalt thou be with me in paradise. Number two. Why was he to be in paradise? Why? Because Christ, the sovereign
king, said so. Because God, manifest in the
flesh, said so. Thou shalt be, and he as God
said so, and God determined it before the world, and God chose
him to salvation, and nobody can stay God's hand. That's the reason why he was
taken to paradise. It was because God had determined
to do it, because God said he would do it, because God is faithful
who has promised, because this mercy is sovereign mercy. I will have mercy. No, you won't. I will. The one who spoke to him hanging
on that middle cross with his hands and his feet nailed to
that cross and a crown of thorns on his head hung there naked,
he promised them that he would be in paradise today. He had everything riding on what
this man said. That's why it's so important
for us to hear what God says, not what men say, and not what
men say about what He says, but what He actually says. And what He said to this thief
was this, you're gonna be with me in paradise. And there wasn't a power, there
wasn't an angel, there wasn't a devil, There wasn't anybody
or anything that could stop that decree of grace, and there is
not one thing that anybody can do to stop the decree and the
predestinating purpose of God to each and every one of His
people who are just like this thief. Today, shalt thou be with me,
in paradise. Number three, how can he be in
paradise? How can he be in paradise? Didn't he fall in Adam Wasn't
he in Adam when Adam sinned and when Adam was barred from the
garden? Wasn't he driven out in Adam? And here he is, a sinner. And he can't do anything else
but sinning. And he can't do anything else
that most of false religion requires to be done to enter paradise. He can't make a decision. evidently nailed to the cross,
he doesn't even have a free will. He can't be baptized. He can't
even raise his hand. He isn't a good man. He can't
take the Lord's Supper. He can't join anybody's church. He hasn't lived a good life. How in the world will he enter
into paradise? Because Christ is going to the
cross to assure his return. Now when Christ says, I am the
way, I'm sure that means a lot of different things. And I know
it means I am the way to God, and therefore it means I am the
way to paradise. Christ said, no man comes to
the Father but by me. Christ is going to take him back. in himself the only way he can
go. Look back at Genesis 3. What's to keep him from going into paradise? Christ's Word has been given. He has said it, spoke it, promised it. But there is just one problem,
and that is when Adam was cast out of paradise, when he was
cast out of that Garden of Eden, God put a flaming sword that
turned every way to assure that none entered back
into that garden any other way except through that sword. It says, and a flaming sword
which turned every way to keep the way of the tree of life."
I can just see that sword now, flaming sword. If one tries to go in this way,
it turns that way. If one tries to sneak back in
another way, it turns that way. If one seeks to go another way,
it turns that way. It keeps every sinner And that sword burned. It burned
and it slept, you might say, for all the years to this point
right here. And then somebody met that sword. Let me read you something in Zechariah. Zechariah 13 and verse 7. Awake, O sword. Must have been kind of sleeping
it. It must have been inactive. There
must not have been anybody else who could take on this sword,
which by the way, is the sword of God's justice. God's righteousness. Righteousness
with God is justice. He says, awake, O sword, against
my shepherd? Against the shepherd? Well, he's not seeing. The shepherd's not seeing. The
shepherd is a good shepherd. The shepherd is the chief shepherd. He's everything in his perfections,
but he's also the shepherd. It says, a Waco sword against
my shepherd. against the one that is my fellow,
so we know who it is here, saith the Lord of hosts, smite the
shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered, and I will turn
my hand upon the little ones." The only way back into paradise
for any son and daughter in Adam. And the only way into paradise
for this thief is to go through that sword. And so he's dying. Christ. Christ is dying as the head and
representative of his people. He is satisfying justice on the
behalf of everyone, justice that would consume every sinner like
this thief, and he's burying in his body their sins on the
tree. He's suffering the just for the
unjust to bring us to God. He's during that sword. And that's what's happening on
the cross. That sword of divine justice is plunged into the breast
of the Son of God all the way to the hilt. That means it's fullness. It's
strength. It's plunged into the heart of the
Son of God so that He might endure all the sins of all His people
forever and ever. There was nobody sneaking back
into paradise. This thief wasn't going to sneak
into paradise. He wasn't going to just go back
into paradise tagging along with Christ. But he was going back through
the sword. He was going back through Christ
crucified. He was promised that on the basis
of Christ's sacrifice. And I said, there are four things.
Number four is, what is paradise? What is paradise? You know, there is really nothing said about paradise. that one man, Lazarus, it says
he was comforted. That'd be good enough to be comforted. But I'll tell you what paradise
is. He said, today thou shalt be
with me in paradise. wherever our Savior is, wherever
the Son of God is, wherever that place is, or that state is, or
however way you want to expect it, with all its comforts, to be with Christ and to be with
Him forever. to praise Him and thank Him forever. That's paradise. And every time there gets to
be a paradise here on earth, men call it paradise, along comes
a hurricane and shows it's not paradise at
all. It's just like everything else
in this world. Passing If the wind doesn't get
it, the fire in the last judgment will get it. But God's people will still be
and forever be in paradise. That's his promise. That's promised. Everyone who looks to Christ
alone everyone who pleads his blood and righteousness, everyone
who relies upon Christ crucified today, thou shalt be with me in paradise. In Revelation 2 is another use
of that same word. He says this, he that hath an
ear, Let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches. To him that overcometh, and he's
just been talking about false teachers and false things, to
him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life, which
is in the midst of the paradise of God. Well, there's a third reference. There's a man who went there
and came back to tell about it. He says, as he talks about this experience,
and God teaching him not to glory in even this experience, but
to glory in God's deliverance of him through his infirmities. 2 Corinthians 12, verse 1. It is not expedient for me, doubtless
to glory, I will come to visions and revelations of the Lord. I knew a man in Christ above
14 years ago, whether in the body I cannot tell or whether
out of the body I cannot tell, God knows. Such a one caught
up to the third heaven. And I knew such a man, whether
in the body or out of the body, I cannot tell. God knoweth how
that he was caught up into paradise and heard unspeakable words,
which it is not lawful for a man to utter." Now, isn't this something? Here's a man, and he's speaking
with modesty as another man about him entering into paradise. And what does he say of paradise? He said, I heard unspeakable
words. I heard unspeakable words. What
this is, is I heard unspeakable words which are too, almost too
good to be true, almost too precious to be uttered. I'm not worthy
to utter the words that I heard in paradise. So after that experience, Paul said, I determined to know
nothing among you save Jesus Christ and Him crucified. After this time, he says, woe
is unto me if I preach not the gospel. You see, Christ is the tree of
life. He's the source of all life.
He is the life. He's spiritual life. He's eternal
life. And to be saved by Him, live
in Him, and be with Him forever is paradise. He promised this thief, today you will be with me in paradise. And he promised this thief in his gospel the same thing. You're going to be with me in
paradise. We're not going to talk about palm trees. We're
not going to talk about cool breezes. We're going to
dwell on Christ in God's paradise. Because in Christ is paradise
regained. Regained. Our Father, we thank
you tonight for your precious word. For what you have not been pleased
to tell us, and for what you have been pleased
to tell us, promise us. And make all those promises yes
and amen in Christ. If you could, on the basis of
Christ's crucifying, promise such to this thief, maybe you can promise it to thieves
like us, who are always trying to steal your glory, but instead receive it by receiving
your grace. We pray and thank you. for our
Savior. In Christ's name, amen.