Turn with me once again this
morning to the gospel of Luke. Luke chapter 23. Luke 23. I call this message, Sovereign Grace for Certain Criminals. I doubt if anybody here has ever been to a public execution. But I want to take you to one
today. And this is not some fairy tale. This was a real event. This is a true account because this is the Word of God. And I want you to pay close attention to what is written here. And
it is, of course, that hour in which the Lord Jesus Christ was
crucified. In Luke 23 and verse 35, it says, "...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. 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
was also written over him in letters of Greek and Latin and
Hebrew, This is the king of the Jews. And one of the malefactors, criminals,
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 I say unto thee, today shalt thou be
with me in paradise.'" You see, these are important
verses of scripture because they certainly, in this text, deal
a death blow to any and all notions of salvation by human works and
effort. They deal a death blow to all
imaginations of men as to being saved by an act of our will or
by our imagined worth. This is the plainest example
of what it means to be saved by grace. And here before us is the most
obvious illustration of the sovereignty of God's grace. Many ask us when
we speak of sovereign grace or when they read the church sign
that says, Sovereign Grace. They ask us, what do you mean
by Sovereign Grace? Well, this text shows us. In John's Gospel, it says, there
they crucified Him and two others with him on either side one and
Jesus in the midst. There were three men hanging
on three crosses and they were all crucified. We have two of these men, both
who are said to be thieves, malefactors, which is simply criminals. And only one of them is saved
from his sins. I remember reading a long time
ago where some old writer said, there are two men here, one saved
so that none should despair, and one left in his sins that
none dare presume. This is the truth of God. The truth of His grace illustrated. The truth that Paul speaks of
when he makes reference in Romans 9 to Moses. And I will have compassion on
whom I will have compassion. So then it is not of him that
willeth, nor of him that runneth or doeth, but of God that shows
mercy." And our Lord, when He prayed
there in John chapter 17 to the Father, and He said, "...as thou
hast given Him power over all flesh, that He should give eternal
life to as many as thou hast given Him." This is the freeness. the sovereign activity of God
in grace. And not only is there a death
blow dealt to all notions of work salvation, but this is a
text in which so very many are proven absolutely wrong. In this text, it is proven that
all who insist upon baptism being actually regeneration, that cannot
be. All who would say that it is
essential to salvation, that is not true. And all who would
say that it is in the waters of baptism or some other ordinance
that sins are washed away, that is not the case in this case. This man was not baptized with
anyone's baptism. And not only that, it shows us,
as I said, that a life of good works, of morality, or of doing
our best, as people say, that's not what saves. This man's life
was just exactly the opposite. He was, at this point in his
life, at his lowest point, about to face death, charged with crimes
that warranted his being put to death by the law of the land. And not only that, this deals
a death blow to all the notions, all the rituals of man in religion
today, that men are saved by walking down an aisle, or saved
by raising a hand, or saved by signing a card, or joining a
church, or something like that. could not do any of these things. His hands were nailed to a cross. His feet were nailed to a cross. And then to those who say that
the way to get blessing from God is to give to God. giving gifts to God, giving gifts
to God's work, giving this and that, sacrificing so that God
might be able to do something. This man's salvation shows totally
false every such notion. And then it also shows the error
of the necessity of some earthly priest some go-between that would
be necessary, someone in that hour to deliver the last rite,
as they call it, or the Virgin Mary to intercede on His behalf,
or maybe the Pope, or some other priest. You see, this verse,
these verses show that there is, as Paul said, one mediator
between God and men, the man, Christ Jesus. And it also shows the foolishness
of some necessity to make a pilgrimage to a place. They have to go to
Mecca, or have to go to Salt Lake City, or have to go to the
so-called Holy Land, or some other holy area. This man didn't
do any of that. And it shows how foolish it is
to imagine that by joining some organization or identifying with
some particular group, something like men and women do again and
again almost daily throughout this world, and imagine in their
doing so that they are now in favor with God. He wasn't a member
of anybody's group. He didn't join anybody's church. He wasn't recognized by any accepted
religious authority. And it also deals a death blow
to such notion as the knowing of certain facts and certain
informations, and having certain creeds or confessions of faith,
or reciting Catechism, or things such as that, that men and women
do every day in this world, and have hope that in some way, It
increases God's favor and acceptance of them. And then it also shows us the
utter foolishness of such a thought as some intermediate state, some
place of purgatory, some temporary holding place of men and women
when they die between heaven and earth. This man found out
today that he would be in paradise. And it shows the false doctrines
and notions that so many have who insist upon certain experiences,
or second blessings, or things like that, or degrees of reward. Some seeming to indicate that
they think that some will live in a big mansion in heaven and
others will live in a little cabin in the corner of glory
land. You see, all these things are
just simply shown to be utterly false and so contrary and contradictory
to what it is to be saved by the free grace of God in the
Lord Jesus Christ. And what I want you to particularly
notice this morning is that it proves, this absolutely proves
to anybody except those who cannot have anything proven to them
by the Scriptures, it proves the distinguishing grace and
power of God. Both of these men were of the
same nature. It seems to me that God goes
to great lengths, such as He does with Jacob and Esau, or
Isaac and Ishmael, or Cain and Abel. He goes to great lengths. to show how many things they
all had in common, the same parents, the same woman birthing them,
the same environment lived in, the same opportunities and influences
on them. And yet, in every one of those
cases, God distinguishes one of them and saves them by His
grace and leaves the other to the just consequences of his
sins. It may well have been that these
men were actually participants in the same crime. As a matter
of fact, the Jews say, or said in that day, they never judge
or condemn two in one day. But one one day, and the other
tomorrow. But if they're in the one transgression
and of one death, the same time. It's likely that these men were
both participants in whatever crime this was that warranted
public execution by crucifixion. But here is the point, they both
had the same heart and mind to rail on Christ just a little
while before what we read in our text. It hadn't been but
just a matter of minutes before this, that this same man along
with the other criminal, they were both mocking and railing
on Christ. Turn back over to Matthew chapter
27, and listen to what we find in these verses. Matthew 27 and
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." Now here is the Roman governor,
assenting to all that these people desired, and they all, soldiers,
priests, scribes, Pharisees, every one of them together, they
all are saying the same thing. But look at the next verse. And
the thieves, you see that in the plural? And the thieves also
which were crucified with him cast the same in his teeth."
They were saying the same thing. Look over in Mark's Gospel chapter
15. Mark's Gospel chapter 15 and
verse 32. Let Christ the King of Israel
descend now from the cross, that we may see and believe, and they
that were crucified with Him reviled Him." They are the same. They are thinking
the same. They are feeling the same. They are angry the same. They
are reviling Him. Their attitude toward the one
hanging on that center cross is exactly like everyone around
them. There is no difference. And you know that's exactly what
the Bible says about every one of us as sinners? There is none,
there is no difference. And yet now, just a little while
later, one of them calls this man Jesus, Lord. I don't think we really realize
what a radical transformation from the inside out has taken
place with this man. Here he is at one hour reviling
him, mocking him, scoffing at him, challenging him, and now
all of a sudden he calls him Lord. This is so amazing. Because the word LORD in these
verses that he uses to call on the Lord Jesus Christ, that word
is kurios. And when it is used, it is from
the root word that has to do with supremacy. In other words,
He is looking at a man who is nailed to a cross just like He
is, a man who is in human flesh just like He is, and He is owning
him to be, confessing him to be the sovereign possessor and
disposer of everything. And what he's actually confessing
is this, Lord, I am yours to do with what you will. I'm yours. That's what the Bible
says, isn't it? Does not God say, all souls are
mine? Does he not say, can I not do
with my own what I will? And the very first thing that
surely must happen to us, and does happen to us, if the Lord
is pleased to show mercy upon us, is He has to bring us to
our knees, bring us down on our face before Him, and confess
Him to be exactly what He is and what we are to Him. He's the Lord. You and I may
think, and we do by nature think we are somebody. And we think
we can by our own will do what we will. We'll make our own decisions. We'll make our own determinations. We will, as these Jews cried
out, not have this man rule over us, but if he saves us. He's going
to break us at this very point. Because at issue, as it was in
that very garden paradise, when God established one tree in the
garden and commanded Adam and Eve not to eat of that tree,
the issue is between God and men, God's right to be God. You think that we do not see
all that God has given us, just like Adam and Eve. He gave them
that glorious paradise garden, and that's what paradise literally
means, actually, is a garden, a park. And He gave them that
and everything in it, all the creatures, all the trees, all
the fruit, everything, and the place of sovereignty over it,
except for one thing. And that was that one thing that
symbolized His right as God to command, to rule over His creatures,
to require of them what He will. And what did they do? They rebelled
against it. So if the Lord saves us, we have
to be brought back to that. Lord! He owns Him to be the absolute
Sovereign, and most especially, Lord over Him. Is He Lord over
you? It's a happy day when we find
out He is. Paul said to the Corinthians,
"'Wherefore, I give you to understand that no man speaking by the Spirit
of God calleth Jesus a curse, and that no man can say that
Jesus is the Lord, but by the Holy Ghost.'" And men will talk about a lot
of things. They'll brag on Jesus and they'll
talk about the Lord. without any real realization
of what it means for Him to be their Lord. They'll let Him be
Lord over creation. They'll let Him be Lord over
providence and a whole lot of other things. But my friend,
He's Lord over whether you're saved or not, whether you live
or whether you die. whether you go into His heaven
or whether He casts you into hell. He's Lord over all that. It's not your will and your decision
and your determination, it's His. And that's what this man
confesses. And man, he was owning Him to
be Christ. Christ. The Christ. You're the
Christ. And every time I think about
that, it just kind of boggles my mind that here is this man
nailed to a cross and looking at a man who seems to be in the
same faith that he is and acknowledging that he is the Christ. And amazingly, after the Lord
Jesus had hung there in silence, do you notice how that In the
face of all those taunts and all that reviling and mocking
and all those questions, He never responded to them once. He doesn't use that. He doesn't
have to answer the foolish questions of His creatures. And especially
the foolish questions and notions of such rebel sinners as we are. He just simply hung there quietly. Why? Because if we ever find
out who He is, it's not going to be by Him literally speaking
to us, it's going to be by His Word and by His Spirit. even if it comes from the mouth
of his enemies. It was generally known that he
made a claim to being the Christ. And now here is a man, after
not hearing Him say anything, bows before Him and calls Him
Lord. And both of these men have been
hearing what is said of the Lord Jesus Christ, and both have seen
Him, but now only one of them confesses Him as Lord and calls
upon Him for mercy." Why? Because the Spirit of God
has given him that new birth. You see, as was said to Nicodemus
by our Lord, you cannot see and you cannot enter the kingdom
of God except you be born again. He's born from above. Quickened,
as the Scripture says, by the Holy Spirit. God has now opened
his heart like He did for Lydia, and given him faith. That's the evidence of new birth.
Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Somebody's always saying, well,
if a person's born again, they won't do this, they won't do
that, they won't do the other thing. And if they're born again,
they'll do this and that and the other thing. They've got
long lists. And everybody's got his own list. But here's a man
born of God. And although he's not able to
do all those things, although he has in his life never done
any of those things, he is enabled by the Spirit of God to do the
one thing, to do that work of God that Christ spoke of, which
is to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. John says, "...he came unto his
own, and his own received him not, but as many as received
him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even
to them that believe on his name." Why did they believe on his name
and all the others didn't? Why did this man believe on the
Lord Jesus Christ and the other thief didn't? John goes on, "...which
were born, Why did they receive Him? Why did these few believe
on Him when everybody else had not? Which were born, not of
blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man,
but of God. The reason they did was because
of a birth from above. Because the Spirit of God begat
them by the Word of the Truths. And he did not simply change
his mind, but as one of God's elect, he was, as Scripture says,
made willing in the day of God's power. In other words, God revealed
to him the truth of who Christ was. He revealed to him what
it was that Christ had come to do. And that is the only difference. It was the fact that God made
him to differ. When Paul says to us, who make
thee to differ? And what do you have that you
did not receive as a gift? And if you received it, why are
you boasting in it? Whatever measure of divine truth
this man received, it was because of God's grace to him. It was
because of a work of the Spirit in his heart. It was because
God enabled him to believe what was said about Christ, that He
is The Lord of glory. But what was the result of his
being given faith by God? Well, he not only bows before
the Lord. You see, that shows that bowing
is not the bowing of the knee, it's the bowing of the heart
and the mind. Everything that we really are. All these externals don't really
reveal anything. But when the Spirit of God brings
us to bow before Him, we bow to His authority. We bow especially
to His Word as the final authority on all things. Not only as to
who God is, but as to what we are. What does He do? He confesses
himself to be a sinner before God, and that what he was about
to have happen to him was what he deserved. Look back in our
text in Luke chapter 23. At verse 40, when he says to
the other thief, "...dost thou not fear God, seeing that thou
art in the same condemnation, and we indeed justly?" I tell you, that's one evidence
of when the Lord has saved us. It's when we cease to justify
our sins. And we count God as being right
to deal with us in ourselves in this way that He must deal
with all sinners, which is to judge our sins. We know ourselves to be sinners
with no but that follows. I hear folks saying things like,
well, I know I'm a sinner. I know I sin. And then it immediately
is followed by, but. But I'm not as bad as so-and-so.
I'm not as bad as maybe even that preacher. Which, by the
way, is a very low standard. No. Not only are we sinners,
but God would be just. to cast every one of us into
the fiery pit. He would not diminish as God. He would not err in any way. He would not even show Himself
unkind or in any way unjust if He cast all of Adam's race, looking
at them in themselves, into hell. Eternal death. Because that's
what the wages of sin is. The wages of sin is death. The
soul that sins shall surely die. And here is this man, the object
of God's free grace, and he asked this other man, don't you fear
God? Wait a minute. Was he not Just
a few minutes before, amongst those who obviously did not fear
God, mocking Him, reviling against Him, and now all of a sudden
He says, don't you fear God? Do you fear God? I'm not talking
about being terrified in that sense of the flesh always being
terrified at the thoughts of death or hell or God or whatever. I'm talking about reverencing
God. You see, the charge is, the apostle
says, of all of Adam's race by nature, There is no fear of God
before their eyes." Do you fear God? That's an easy thing to
say, oh yes, I fear God. No. Do you reverence Him as God? I know this, and that is that
the Scriptures say that the fear of God, the fear of the Lord,
is the beginning of wisdom. And if you don't fear the Lord,
you haven't even begun to be wise. Not even begun to be wise. That's the beginning of wisdom. Because when we are brought by
the Spirit of God to truly fear the Lord, what is it that everyone
who truly fears the Lord does? We flee to Christ. Because He is the wisdom of God. He sided with God in His condemnation. He said, We're in the shape we're
in. We're under this condemnation.
And he's not only talking about condemned to death in the physical
body, but condemned before God. He said, and we're so justly.
We're so justly. But at the same time, he acknowledges
the sinlessness of Christ. He says, this man, hath done nothing amiss." Nothing
amiss. Well, we know the Bible says
in a host of places that He knew no sin. He did no sin. And that being essential, so
that He might be the spotless Lamb of God, the sacrifice for
the sins of His people. He knew no sin. But they're not charging him
here for immorality. They're not charging him for
any of his works. He asked them, for which of these
works do you condemn me and would you stone me? They said, not
for any of your works, but that you made yourself to be God. Great is the mystery. God was
manifest in the flesh. The Word was made flesh and dwelt
among us. The charge that is at the head
of everything that is set against Him, that brings Him to this
hour of death by all these various entities, is that He made Himself
God. And here's this thief, this criminal,
and he said concerning that one thing in particular, this man
hath done nothing amiss. It was not amiss for him to say
that he's the Son of God. It was not amiss for him to say
that he was the way to God. that he was the truth of God
incarnate, that he was the life of God, the life he gives as
a gift to his people. It wasn't a myth for him to say
that. And the very thing they're crucifying him for, the very
thing he made as his claim, that's the truth. He said right. He said right. And he not only
did that, he believed and he acknowledged the kingship of
Christ. Remember me when you come into
your kingdom. What does a kingdom have to have?
It has to have a king. That is such faith that you can
look there as you're dying at another man who's also dying
and say, he's my king. Remember me when you come into
your kingdom." He believed in his resurrection,
that he would not die, but that he would actually come into his
kingdom. He believed that he would surely
in all these things be utterly successful. He said, remember
me when, not if you come into your kingdom. And this he confessed before
a whole crowd of mocking men and women. He confessed this
against all these circumstances. And he did so against the majority
of unbelief all around there. You say, well, he didn't have
anything to lose. No. Whenever we're brought to
faith in Christ, We no longer care what we lose. We know we've got to lose everything. We counted all, as Paul said,
but done, lost. All our false religion, all our
experiences, all our phony professions of faith, all of our so-called
good works, all these things, we not only As Paul said, don't
count them for anything. We count them for sin. Oh, Gil said, this was great
faith indeed to be exercised on Christ at such a time as this,
when He was under the greatest reproach and ignominy, while
He was insulted and derided by all sorts of people, when He
was forsaken by His own apostles and was suffering a shameful
punishment, and now dying. You're going to believe on the
Lord Jesus Christ in this day when everything is anti-God? You're going to believe on the
Lord Jesus Christ and salvation by His free grace, His sovereign
grace, even though men are spouting sermon after sermon on so-called
free will, decisionism, baptismal regeneration, all these things? If He gives you true faith, you
will. You'll confess, let God be true,
and every man a liar. If you're found as this thief,
unable and helpless to save yourself, seeing yourself for what you
are, One old writer said, Jesus immediately answered him, though
he said not one word to the other that railed at him, or to the
multitude that abused him, and promised him more than he asked
for, and sooner than he expected. He said, today. Well, surely
he'll have to do something in preparation for entering into
God's presence. That's what men so foolishly
imagine, that the Lord saves a man and then he begins to progress,
he begins to be more sanctified and more sanctified until he's
fit for heaven. What utter unbiblical foolishness. Here is a thief, probably a murderer,
and he's being crucified for his crimes. And the Lord says,
today. Today. No purgatory for sure. No preparatory work. Today. How could such a vile
sinner be taken into the presence of the thrice holy God almost
instantly? Because Christ had made Himself
this man's righteousness. He had by Himself redeemed him. He was altogether his all-injustification
and his sanctification. God had made him by His free
grace unto him, as He does all His people, wisdom, righteousness,
sanctification, and redemption. Because the blood of Jesus Christ
cleansed him of all his sins. All his sins. And this is the
only way for you and for me to be received by God and to enter
His presence. You see, we're all thieves. We sought to steal the glory
of God, His greatest glory, which is His glory and salvation. We
made ourselves enemies in our minds toward Him by our wicked
works. And that's any work that we imagine
that would contribute to this salvation which He says is of
the Lord. We're lawbreakers. Not just having
broken the law of the land. You do that every day. You'll ease that speedometer
needle where the sign says 55, you'll ease it over to 60 or
65. That's breaking the law. But especially, we're breakers
of God's law. A minor offense. But we're guilty
of the whole law. You say everything? He said if
you offend in one point, you're guilty of the whole. And divine law and justice has
nailed us tight with condemnation, and we cannot deliver ourselves. And only the crucified Christ,
only He can do it, and only He can do it through His death and
the shedding of His blood. Christ was dying for this man. And He was hanging there before
God in this sinner's place, before God and before the justice of
God, with the sins of this man, and all of God's sheep imputed
or charged him." He knew no sin, so why is he dying? He's dying
because the Lord hath laid on him this man's sins and all the
sins of his people. And he is laying down his life
for the sheep. And he says today, shalt thou
be with me in paradise." Where is paradise? It's wherever God
is. Wherever Christ dwells. And what
is paradise? It's the presence of Christ. You see, that's what hell is
the exact opposite of. It's separation from God forever. And this may be the first kind
of public demonstration of the intercession of Christ as He
intercedes for this man He's dying for. The one man is left dying in
his sin. Even in that hour, he just becomes
harder and harder. And then here's that other man,
the Lord Jesus Christ, and he's dying for sin that's not his. And then here's this criminal
who cries out, Lord, remember me when you come into your kingdom. And he's dying to sin. He's dying
to sin through the death of the one on the middle cross. Paul said, being justified freely. That means declared righteous,
and that word freely there in another place is translated,
without a cause. How could God declare righteous
this man and take him into His presence? Without a cause. He says, through the redemption
that is in Christ Jesus. And so as Christ hangs there,
and this is said about Christ, these things that have to do
with who He is and why He came, as was the case on this occasion,
it's the same as Paul says in the preaching of the gospel.
He said, to some, we are a saver of life unto life, but to others,
were a saver of death unto death. In the book of Acts, he says
he preached and some believed and some believed not. But as
many as were ordained unto eternal life, they believed. Will the Lord remember me? Would you have the Lord to remember
you? Or will He forget? Let me read you some words. In Isaiah, he says, Zion said,
Zion is the people of God. They have unbelief still. Zion
said, the Lord hath forsaken me, and my Lord hath forgotten
me. God says, can a woman forget
her suckling child? That she should not have compassion
on the son of her womb? Yea, they may forget, yet will
I not forget thee. Now listen to this next verse.
Behold, I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands, thy walls
are continually before me. In that hand, these hands of
the resurrected Christ, is the image of His sacrifice for His
people. And He said, though everybody
forget everybody else, I won't forget you. My people, I'll remember
you. I have no doubt that all who
enter the presence of God's glory, presence of the Lord Jesus Christ. In an hour when it says that
they shall know even as they're known, they'll find one fellow
for sure. And that's the one that Christ
that day took with Him into paradise. When I read these verses and
I see the Lord's mercy, His sovereign grace to whomever He will. I
just say, Lord, remember me. Remember me. Lord, save me. I
cry out like that old blind Bartimaeus, Lord, have mercy on me. And He will. Our Father, this day we give
You praise and thanksgiving for Your grace. for the gift of your
Son, for the gift of eternal life, for the gift of righteousness,
for the gift of faith, for the gift of repentance, all things
by your grace. And thank you that you are pleased
to save and have mercy and remember your covenant made to criminals
like me. We thank you for your gospel.
And may you reveal this day to some sinner who you are, who
Christ is, and what He's done, and stir their hearts to cry
out, Lord, remember me when you come into your kingdom. If you
did so here and bless this man as you hung there on the cross,
how might you hear him now as you sit upon the throne of glory. We plead only His blood, His
perfect righteousness, and nothing else. And we pray in His name,
Amen.