for several months, our attention
has been riveted upon the tremendous and profound statements of the
Apostle Paul found in Ephesians 2, verses 1 to 10, in which the
Apostle describes the great transformation which grace brings to pass in
the lives of all who are the children of God. And he does
it, as you well know, those who have been here through these
past months. The Apostle accomplishes this
description by way of a vivid contrast to what the Ephesians
were, verses 1 to 3, and what they had now become by the grace
of God, verses 4 to 10. And having completed that series
of expositions, I have begun, and probably will carry this
on through the better part of the summer, to turn to other
portions of the Word of God which give to us vivid demonstrations
of the Lord actually doing what Paul describes in Ephesians 2,
1-10. The Apostle gives, as it were,
the theory, the description of the work of God in changing sinners
from sons of darkness to sons of light, in Ephesians 2, but
then elsewhere in the Scriptures we have actual case histories
in which we draw near and behold the Lord doing this mighty work
of creating men anew in Christ Jesus. For three Lord's Day mornings,
we studied the record of the conversion of the Philippian
jailer as the first illustrative case of this work of God. This morning, and then God willing
this evening, and then I trust concluding the study next Lord's
Day morning, we shall look at the second of these amazing examples
of God's work in transforming sinners from the state of death
into spiritual life. And I refer to the Lord's work
in the conversion of the dying thief. The record of this is
found in Luke chapter 23, and I shall read this morning verses
32 through 43. Luke chapter 23, verses 32 to
43. At this point in the narrative,
our Lord has been brought to the place of execution Verse
32, And there were also two others, malefactors, led with him to
be put to death. And when they came unto the place
which is called the skull, there they crucified him. And the malefactors,
one on the right hand, and the other on the left. And Jesus
said, Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do. and
parting his garments among them, they cast lots. And the people
stood beholden. And the rulers also scoffed at
him, saying, He saved others. Let him save himself, if this
is the Christ of God, his chosen. And the soldiers also mocked
him, coming to him, offering him vinegar, and saying, If thou
art the king of the Jews, save thyself. there was also a superscription
over him, this is the king of the Jews. And one of the malefactors
that were hanged railed on him, saying, Art not thou the Christ? Save thyself and us! But the
other answered, and rebuking him, said, Dost not thou even
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,
Jesus, remember me when thou comest in thy kingdom. And he
said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, Today thou shalt be with
me in paradise. I can do no better in introducing
our studies in this profoundly moving portion of the Word of
God than to read the words with which James Buchanan, a Scottish
preacher of another day, begins his exposition of this passage,
in which he says the crucifixion of the Lord Jesus was so ordered
as to furnish a striking illustration at once of the depth of his abasement
and the certainty of his reward. To enhance the agony and the
shame of his death, our Lord was crucified between two thieves,
being numbered with the transgressors, placed on the same level in public
view with men whose lives had been justly forfeited on account
of their crimes. and subjected in his last moments
to the painful spectacle of their sufferings. But to demonstrate
the certainty of his reward, to make it manifest that the
joy that was set before him and for which he endured the cross,
despising the shame, would be realized, and to give him as
it were a pledge in his hand that he should see of the travail
of his soul and be satisfied, One of the thieves who suffered
along with him was suddenly converted. And in the lowest depths of the
Redeemer's humiliation, in the darkest hour of the power of
darkness, when Satan's policy seemed to be crowned with complete
success, this immortal soul was snatched as a bran from the burning
and given to Christ as a pledge of His triumph and the firstfruits
of a glorious harvest. Doesn't that make you want to
say hallelujah? While others mocked and reviled him, and when
his chosen disciples stood aloof, the dying malefactor relented,
his conscience awoke, his heart was touched, and amidst the ridicule
and the execrations and blasphemies of that awful hour, one solitary
voice was heard which spake of a kingdom of a Lord in accents
of faith, penitence, and prayer. And how must that voice have
gladdened the Savior's heart and imparted to our Lord in the
midst of His bitterest agony a foretaste, as it were, of the
joy set before Him, exhibiting as it did a proof of the efficacy
of His death, the faithfulness of God's covenant promise, and
the certainty of His reward. Believing, as the scripture says,
that the men who crucified our Lord were gathered together to
do whatsoever God's counsel had foreordained to come to pass. All of the circumstances surrounding
the death of our Lord are ordered by divine wisdom and with divine
intention to demonstrate tremendous spiritual reality. And as Buchanan
has given us the clue, the fact that our Lord is numbered with
the transgressions, and contrary to the artwork depicting the
cross, hangs in stark nakedness. And the shame of that nakedness
hangs not with a halo about his head, but bloody and ugly and
bruised as the off-scouring of all things. showing in this public
way the posture that he now assumes before the tribunal of God. He
takes the place of the guilty one. He is exposed to the wrath,
to the anathema of Almighty God because of his position as sin-bearer. Yet, the circumstances were so
ordinary that in that very scene in which there is this terrible,
this frightening display of the guilty one, Christ the sin-bearer. There is this amazing record
of Christ, the mighty Savior, snatching, as it were, in the
very moment of his agony, this soul from the clutches of the
enemy, and bringing him home to paradise with himself. And the clue to any proper interpretation
of this passage The interpretive key is to be found in the final
words in which our Lord indicates that this man had come to the
exercises of true repentance in faith, this man had been born
of the Spirit, for unless a man is born of the Spirit he cannot
see nor enter the kingdom. Jesus says, today thou shalt
be with me in paradise, indicating that our Lord pronounces the
man a saved man. And because our Lord pronounces
him a saved man, we are therefore warranted to read into this very
sketchy account of this dialogue between the Lord Jesus and the
dying thief, the remarks of the dying thief to his fellow thief,
we are warranted to read into those words. Better yet, to see
in the words themselves, not to read into them, but to see
in the words themselves the actings of true repentance and true faith. To see in those words expressions
of the impartation of divine life. Had our Lord not given
us this clear and final statement, today thou shalt be with me in
paradise. If all we had to work with was
the record of this thief rebuking his fellow thief and his plea,
remember me, we would have to say we don't know what the ultimate
issue was. For those words could simply
be viewed from a very human standpoint as a man who is trying to relieve
the fellow who suffers agonies and rebukes this man. His remember
me could be no expression of true faith, but because our Lord
himself says this man will enter paradise with He has experienced
the new birth. He has come to repentance and
faith. We are warranted to see in the
record the expressions of divine light, the actings of repentance
and faith. And this is the key that I'm
using in the exposition of the passage, and I thought I needed
to pause for a moment to show that it is right so to do. As we think our way through the
passage, we shall first of all consider what the passage tells
us about the native spiritual condition of the dying thief. Secondly, the gracious spiritual
transformation of the dying thief, and thirdly, the powerful spiritual
lessons contained in the narrative of his conversion. First of all
then, the native spiritual condition of the dying thief. The scripture
calls him a malefactor. Luke 23 and verse 32. And there were also two others
malefactors. Now the English word malefactor
is one of those words that comes over almost completely from the
Latin made up of two Latin words one means evil and the other
means doer so it is a description of a man who is so committed
to evil that his primary characteristic is that of an evil doer the nature
of the evil is clearly defined for us in Matthew chapter 27
and verse 38 These two are called robbers
or thieves. So the nature of the evil doing
was that of robbery or of thievery. But since death was not the penalty
for theft alone, under Jewish or, my present understanding,
under Roman law, these two men were probably, and I can only
say probably, Two men were probably guilty of sins similar to that
of Barabbas. In their thievery they were involved
in insurrection and murder, both of which were punishable by death. But be that as it may, the scriptures
call this man and his companion malefactors, evildoers. They are thieves. Now what specific
things does this tell us about his native spiritual condition? Well it tells us first of all
that he was a defiant rebel against the law of God. What he saw,
he desired. What he desired, he took. And probably was willing to take
even at the expense of another man's life. And when a man is
so consumed by covetousness that what he sees he desires, and
what he desires he takes even to the destruction of human life,
that man is a defiant rebel against the law of God. that he was not
framed, he himself admits in the narrative, when rebuking
his fellow thief, he says, we are here justly, we receive the
due reward of our deeds. So he wasn't framed, he wasn't
unjustly condemned to die, he admits that in his whole pattern
of life prior to this outing, He was marked by defiant rebellion
against the law of God. God's commandment, thou shalt
not steal, meant nothing to him. When conscience would scream,
he simply stifled the voice of conscience. He trampled underfoot
the law of God given in scripture, the law of God written upon his
own heart, the voice of conscience. He became a commentary on the
truth of Psalm 14, the man who lives saying in his heart, there
is no God, is filled with evil works. There was no sense of
accountability either to God or to man. The second thing we
know about his character is that he was not only a defiant rebel
against the law of God, he was, at the beginning of this narrative,
an irreligious hardened sinner in the very face of God. How
do we know that? Well, look carefully, please,
at Matthew chapter 27 and verse 44. In the parallel account in
Matthew chapter 27 and verse 44, We'll read the following words.
Perhaps we should back up to verses 41 and following. In like manner also the chief
priest, mocking him with the scribes and elders, said, He
saved others, himself he cannot save. He is the King of Israel.
Let him now come down from the cross, and we'll believe on him.
He trusted on God. Let him deliver him now, if he
desires him. For he said, I am the Son of
God, and the robbers, plural. also that were crucified with
him cast upon him the same reproach." You have almost the identical
words in Mark 15 in verse 32. Now some, viewing this apparent
discrepancy, have said, well, just as the passage says later
on that the soldiers put a sponge on a reed, and it was obvious
it didn't take three or four soldiers to put a sponge on a
reed, But soldiers is used to describe that this activity came
from the rank of the soldiers. When Matthew and Mark tell us
that the thieves cast the same in his teeth, it simply means
from the quarter of the thieves, it could be one or two of them.
However, another interpretation is possible and is warranted
by the language, and I prefer it. That at the beginning of
the crucifixion of Christ, This man, listening to the taunting
and to the jeering and to the mockery of the chief priest and
the Pharisees, taking his clue, joins his companion in suffering
and manifests that at this point he is full of this irreligious
hardened state of mind and heart that he is utterly indifferent.
to the death of Jesus Christ, to who Christ is, to why Christ
is there upon the cross. And this position is taken by
many responsible commentators, and I would simply stand with
them. that here is a picture of a man who in his native spiritual
condition was not only a defiant rebel against the law of God,
but an irreligious hardened sinner before the face of God. Here
he is standing, hanging on the very brink of hell. Just a few
hours away from standing in the presence of the God who made
him, and what does he do? He locks that God in the person
of Jesus Christ. He shows a concern for nothing
but sparing his own hide. If you're Christ, save yourself,
but for one reason. Because if you get down from
the cross, then you can get me down. For what purpose? But he
might go back to the same lifestyle in which what he sees, he desires,
and what he desires, he takes, fearing neither God nor man. Now that's not a very pretty
picture of this man in his native spiritual condition. The terminology
used by him with reference to the coming of the kingdom, the
terminology used by our Lord with reference to paradise, seems
conclusively to indicate that this man was a Jew, that he was
not a Roman. And being a Jew, he had no doubt
heard of Jesus of Nazareth. Perhaps he had even seen some
of his miracles. But whatever his previous acquaintance
had been with Jesus Christ, at the beginning of the narrative
we find him an irreligious, hardened, impenitent sinner in the very
face of God. The third thing about his native
spiritual condition is this. He was not only a defiant rebel,
an irreligious sinner, but he was a condemned sinner before
the power of Almighty God. Was it only his countrymen and
the Roman government who were aware of his conduct and stirred
to action against him? No. The Word of God says that
the eyes of the Lord are in every place, beholding the evil and
the good. The Scripture tells us that God
himself hates all workers of iniquity. But God himself is
stirred with righteous anger against those who violate his
law. And later on he comes to own
this when he says, we are here justly. He saw that in the activity
of the government in putting him to death for his crimes,
there was an expression of the justness of the moral government
of Almighty God. This is why he acquiesces in
his death, because he sees that Almighty God has constituted
a law, the soul that sinneth it shall die. And he knows that
the nature of his crimes are such that Almighty God has the
right to decree that human government shall take his life. Now this is not a very pretty
picture, is it? But may I suggest it's simply Ephesians 2, 1 to
3 in picture form? You have been made alive who
were dead in your trespasses and sins. What a picture of a
man in spiritual death. Moments away from physical death,
no fear of God or of eternity. Casting taunts into the ears
of the Son of God. Among whom we are so once had
our conversation, walking according to the course of this world,
the Apostle says, according to the prince of the power of the
air, the spirit that now worketh among the sons of disobedience,
we were fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind,
and were by nature children of wrath. There's the picture. Defiant
rebel against the law of God. Irreligious hardened sinner before
the face of God. A condemned sinner before the
bar or court of God. Are you tempted to congratulate
yourself and say, I'm glad that's not me? Oh, my friend, before
you too quickly congratulate yourself, there's a tremendous
similarity between the dying thief in his native spiritual
condition and you and me in our native spiritual condition. Because the scriptures tell us
that all of us by nature are defiant rebels against the law
of God. Romans 8, 7. The carnal mind
is enmity against God. It is not subject to the law
of God, neither indeed can it be. So then they that are in
the flesh cannot please God. But you say, Mr. Martin, I've
never been a defiant rebel against God's law, as was that man. I
have never committed crimes worthy of death. Ah, listen, my friend,
listen. What commandment did he break? Well, we know he broke
at least the commandment, thou shalt not steal. Probably broke
the commandment, thou shalt do no murder. Commandments that
touch our relationship to our fellow men. If you remember in
the days of his flesh, someone asked the Lord Jesus, what is
the great commandment? What is the first and the great
commandment? What did Jesus answer? He said,
the first and great commandment is this, thou shalt love the
Lord thy God with all thy heart, mind, soul, and strength. Now follow me closely. If loving
God with all of our being is the first, the primary, the fundamental,
the most vital commandment, what is the greatest sin? Is it not
to be found in breaking the greatest commandment? The greater the
commandment, the greater degree of sin in breaking it. Every
one of us by nature is a defiant rebel against the law of God,
because not one of us by nature loves the Lord our God with all
our heart, mind, soul, and strength. We love ourselves, and we serve
ourselves. And though our self-service may
not take the manifestations that it did with this man, thievery,
murder, or adultery, or fornication, or these grosser sins, do you
think the sins are any less heinous when they are more directly against
God and known only to God? When you refuse to give to God
the honor that He demands of you, do you think God regards
that with indifference? When you make a god of your own
desires, a god of your own notions, a god of your own opinions, you
and I by nature are defiant rebels against his holy law. That's
the statement of holy scripture. All we like sheep have gone astray. We've turned every one of us
to his own way, and no man can turn to his own way, but at the
expense of walking in God's way, which is the way of bringing
glory to him. There is a parallel in that by
nature we with this man are irreligious and hardened sinners before the
face of God. Oh, again you say, wait a minute,
I've never openly mocked as this man did. Ah, but listen my friend,
what's worse? What's worse? For a man openly
to mock and join in the chorus of unbelieving apostate religious
leaders, or to do as some of you have done, listen, listen,
in this place or in other places of worship, Jesus Christ has
been set before you, some of you week after week, month after
month, some of you boys, girls, men, women in this building,
upstairs, some of you downstairs. Listen! Jesus Christ is set before
you, as we saw in the adult class this morning, in all the glory
of His person as a perfect Savior. In His person there is everything
needed to make Him an able Savior of sinners. Christ has been set
before you in the perfection of His work, in His death, His
burial, His resurrection, His passing back into the presence
of the Father, seated at the right hand, able and willing
to receive all who come unto God by Him. And you've been entreated
to look to the Son of God, to cast yourself upon the Lord Jesus
Christ, to trust in Him as your only and true Savior. And what
have you done? You've turned away with indifference.
You've gone on in your unbelief. You continue to live and walk
and think in terms that can only be described as indifference
to the Son of God. Is not that making mockery of
his dying love to sinners? Is not that making mockery of
the sincere offer of his mercy in the preaching of the gospel?
Is not that making mockery of all that is sacred and holy with
reference to the blessed Son of God, the only Savior of sinners? You, like this man by nature,
are an irreligious and a hardened sinner in the face of God, for
the hardness of the human heart is nowhere more clearly manifested. than in its refusal to embrace
a gracious and an almighty Savior. If its hardness of heart for
a man to look at the law of God and say, I do not fear the law
of God, I'll do as I please, what is it? It will cause him
to gaze full face into the picture that is given to us in Scripture
of God incarnate in Jesus Christ. heaving, sighing, groaning beneath
the weight of human sin, and to turn away with indifference,
and say, that's not for me. Nothing but a hard and penitent
sinner can face the sight of Christ crucified, and turn away
with indifference. And like this man, your native
spiritual condition is one in which you too are condemned You
are a condemned sinner before the bar of eternal justice. The
scripture says, he that believeth not is condemned already, John
3 and verse 18. He that believeth not the wrath
of God abideth upon him already, John 3, 36. So you see there
are tremendous parallels between the dying thief and each one
of us in terms, first of all, of the native spiritual condition.
Now let us move to the secondary of our study this morning, the
gracious transformation of the dying thief. There he is, a defiant
rebel, an impenitent, unbelieving sinner under the wrath of God,
and yet the final words of Christ to him are, today thou shalt
be with me in paradise. What in the world happened to
change all of this? Well, there was a gracious transformation
of the dying thief. And we want to consider this
morning, or begin to consider, that transformation. And let
me say, as I introduce this element of the study, when you're teaching,
you've got to have point one, point two, point three. At least
you better have. Do you want anybody to learn anything? Now, this does not mean that
the transformation occurred from seventeen after one, until twenty-two
minutes, until two, this part, and then from two... No, no.
Don't in any way conjure up in your mind that I am saying that
these elements of the transformation occurred first one, then two,
then three, then four, all in some kind of a time sequence.
No, no. When God is bringing the man out of darkness into
light, there is an interplay, a confluence, an interpenetration
of many things that take him from the last state and into
the saved state. But I can't teach that way, so
I've got to try to separate the strands, you see? But there's
no special significance in the order in which they are separated,
or the terminology, so let's get the substance, get the picture,
all right? The gracious transformation of
the dying teeth. And we're going to address ourselves
to three questions. We'll only get probably the first
this morning. How did it come to pass? Secondly,
what are the evidences that it was real? And thirdly, what means
did God use to produce it? How did this transformation come
to pass? Secondly, what are the evidences
that it was a real transformation? And thirdly, what means were
used to produce it? Alright? The first element then,
under the gracious transformation, how did the transformation come
to pass? Well, it came to pass, as it
always does, by the truth of God operating on the mind of
a sinner under the power and influence of the Holy Spirit.
Now mark this down. When God transforms sinners into
saints, It is always by means of truth applied to the mind
under the influence and power of the Holy Spirit. Of His own
will we are begotten, James says, by the word of truth. Peter says,
being born again not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible by
the word of God. And there are two fundamental
truths that the Spirit of God brought home to the mind and
heart of this dying thief. Number one, he was given a spirit-wrought
revelation of his true condition before God. He was given a spirit-wrought
revelation of his true condition before God. And number two, he
was given a spirit-wrought revelation of and confidence in the Son
of God. Alright, the first. A spirit
wrought revelation of his true condition before God. Notice
carefully the wording in verse 40. When he rebukes his fellow
thief, notice the words that he uses. But the other answered
and rebuking him said, Dost thou not even fear God, seeing thou
art in the same condemnation? You see what he's saying? He's
saying, how can you continue to mock this man? He dies in innocence. You and
I die in our guilt. And dying in guilt means that
we die exposed to the punishment of Almighty God. All you look
upon in this, my dying thief friend, all you see is the sparing
of your temple life. You're saying, if he's the Christ,
why doesn't he save himself and the both of us? But my friend,
listen. You're looking at this whole
situation in terms of the realities that meet the eye. I now view
it in terms of those spiritual realities that do not meet the
physical eye. Oh, my dying, few friend, the
moment you pass out of this life, we're going to stand before God.
and you'll answer for your crimes at the bar of God. It's not the
Roman government that you ought to fear who's put you upon the
cross, nor should your concern be the power of this man possibly
to get you down off the cross. Man, you're hung up on a worse
cross. You're hung up upon the cross
of divine judgment. You're impaled by the law of
God as guilty. Man, don't you fear God? In asking
that question and giving the rebuke, this is a reflection
that this dying thief had received a spirit-wrought revelation of
his own true condition before God. Notice in the subsequent
request, he doesn't say a thing about his temporal well-being.
He doesn't ask that the Lord would save him and then get him
down from the cross. He doesn't even ask the Lord
Jesus for the alleviation of his present pains. And my friend,
remember, This was a man hanging on a cross who was thinking these
thoughts. With his whole body, one concert
of screaming, howling pain! Yet the Spirit so bears down
upon him with his true condition that he says, my true condition
is not to be realized. In the message coming from the
nerves, where the nails are impaling me upon the cross, no, no! No,
my true condition, my true dilemma is coming from that which I see
of my condition before the God of the universe. I'm accountable
to that God. I now stand in his presence. I need acquittal by that God. And temple concerns were swept
away, as he says in essence, I'm his creature. I'm answerable
to him. I've broken his law. I tremble
at the thought that I'm answerable to that God. Oh, my fellow thief,
do not even you fear God? See, you're in the same condemnation.
You're about to die. And you're dying for crimes you
really deserve to die for. But an amazing thing, that in
the midst of all that physical pain, with no evangelist standing
at the foot of the cross to preach. As we'll see in a subsequent
lesson, God uses as his preacher the taunting mocks of unbelieving
people. But they have enough of the truth
coupled with the inscription over his head that the Spirit
of God takes these little elements of truth and out of them forges
an arrow and sends it right to the heart of that man. And he's
brought to a revelation of his true condition before Almighty
God. My friend, as with the peace,
so with us. By whatever fragments of scriptural
truth from whatever source, whether from formal faithful preaching,
whether from the mocking taunts of unbelievers, God will gather
the fragments of his truth. And of them he will form an arrow
that will pierce your heart and show you your true condition
before Almighty God as His creature, His creature accountable to Him,
His creature standing in guilt before Him and in the light of
that accountability, in your ill preparedness to meet Him
in death, you too will fear God as did this man and begin to
be concerned not with your external and your temporal affairs, crying
out to God somehow to bail you out of the mess you're in, be
it physically, financially, domestically, economically, whatever it is.
No, no, nobody's in worse straits than a man hanging on a cross.
If anyone would justify someone looking to Christ for some temporal
benefit, it's a man hanging on a cross. There's not a word of
anything temporal. My friend, when you see your
true condition before Almighty God, I don't care what your problems
are. You may have the most shrewy-like woman in all the world that you're
tied to for life. And when you said, for better
or for worse, you didn't know that that's what the worse was,
but you got it. And we may laugh, but there are
few things that are more like a literal hell on earth. A man
that must live with a recalcitrant, sour, bitter woman, or a woman
that must live with a sour, bitter, self-centered, ungodly man that
turns your home into a living hell. My friend, listen. Whatever
the pains of that domestic situation are, whatever the pains of your
circumstances, whatever physical maladies you may have, listen!
Your greatest problem is the problem that arises out of your
accountability to Almighty The fact that you've broken His law,
the fact that you've trampled under foot His authority, the
fact that you're not ready to meet Him in judgment, you'll
never become a Christian until the Spirit through the Word makes
that the most pressing, burning issue to your heart. How did the transformation come
to pass? It came to pass, first of all,
when God gave to this man a Spirit-wrought revelation. of his true condition
before God, but then secondly, he was given a spirit-wrought
revelation of and confidence in the Son of God. And this is
the most delightful part of the ministry this morning. How did this come to pass? Well,
you will notice if you compare the three gospel accounts, that
the taunts of the scribes and the Pharisees and the soldiers
focused on three specific things. First of all, the taunts focused
upon the person of Christ. Turn to Matthew chapter 27. His person as the Son of God
was the first object of their taunting. Matthew 27, verses 39 and 40. And they that pass by railed
on him, wagging their heads and saying, Quoting from our Lord's
words recorded in John 2, Thou that destroyest the temple and
buildest it in three days, save thyself if thou art the Son of
God. Come down from the cross in like
manner also, the chief priest mocking him with the scribes
and elders said. All right? See the first area
of taunt? If thou be the Son of God. Verse 43, he trusted
in God, let him deliver him now, if he desireth him, for he said,
I am the Son of God. You see, this was a taunt directed
at our Lord's claims about the uniqueness of His person. When
Jesus claimed to be the Son of God in the presence of Jews,
they understood precisely what His claim was. He was claiming
to share in the divine essence. You remember John 10? They took
up stones to kill Him because He said, I am the Son of God,
making Himself equal to God. The concept was in claiming to
be God's unique Son that he shared in the divine essence. Who is
Jesus of Nazareth? His claim was, I am God incarnate. They taunt him at that very point.
Keep that in mind. Secondary of taunt is his position. His position as King of Israel
and Messiah of Israel. Matthew 27, 42. He saved others. Himself He cannot
save. He is the King of Israel. You
see? Second claim. He is the King
of Israel. Let Him now come down from the
cross, and we will believe on Him. And in the Luke 23 passage,
we have a similar account. Luke 23, verses 36 and 37. And
He said unto them, I'm sorry, 23, Verses 36 and 37, And the soldiers
also mocked him, coming to him, offering him vinegar, and saying,
If thou art the king of the Jews, save thyself. Verse 39, And one
of the malefactors that were hanged railed on him, saying,
Art not thou the Christ, that is, the Messiah? Save thyself. Here is a taunt directed not
so much at his person, son of God, but his position, king of
Israel and Messiah. the promised one, upon whose
shoulder would rest the government of the world, the one who was
the judge of the world, the one who would come in the end times
to establish his kingdom throughout the earth. This is the taunt.
And in Mark 15, you find the two things joined together in
one verse. Mark 15, and I believe it's verse
72, if my notes are correct. There is no 72, so it would have
to be 32. Let the Christ, the Messiah,
the King of Israel, now come down from the cross that we may
see and believe. So there is this fusion of the
concept of the King of Israel being the Anointed One. And then
the third area of taunt was with reference to his purpose. His
person, Son of God. His position, King and Messiah.
Thirdly, his purpose. Look at Luke 23. And in verses 33 to 39, four
times the word save is used. Verse 33. I'm sorry, verse 35. And the people stood beholding,
and the rulers scoffed at him, saying, He saved others. Let him save himself. Verse 37. The soldiers mocked
him, coming to him, offering him vinegar and saying, If thou
art the king of the Jews, save thyself. Verse 39. And one of
the malefactors that were hanged on him railed, saying, Art thou
not the Christ? Save thyself. Four times they
throw up into his face this word, save. You go around claiming
to be savior, deliverer, All right, if you're such a great
deliverer, show your stuff! Do what you said you came to
do. You said when you were alive
and everything was going well, the Son of Man has come to seek
and to save. You say your purpose is one of
deliverance? You claim to be able to deliver
men from sin, from death, from hell? Strut your stuff, Mr. Savior! Go ahead and show you've got
what you claim to have. This is taunting our Lord with
reference to the purpose for which He came. You got the three
things now? Taunting, His person, Son of
God. His position, King and Messiah,
His purpose, to save. But now the marvelous thing in
this passage is that at the three points of their taunt, the Holy
Spirit gives a revelation of the sufficiency of Christ to
the thief that causes his heart to run out to Him to embrace
Him as Son of God, King of Israel, and Savior of sinners. Look at
it, with reference to His person. Look at it. This transformation
came not alone because he saw his true condition, but he had
a spirit-wrought revelation of and confidence in the Son of
God. Verse 40, For the other answering rebuked him and said,
Dost thou not even fear God, seeing thou art in the same condemnation? We indeed justly, we receive
the due reward of our deeds, but this man hath done nothing
literally out of place. Now you put yourself in his position.
You've seen this man put upon an instrument of execution just
like yourself. And you know that nobody's put
in that posture but those that are guilty of terrible crimes. And yet, as we shall see in a
subsequent study, in the light of our Lord's conduct and attitude
in those hours, those first hours upon the cross, This man saw
something that caused him to say, he has done nothing amiss,
nothing out of place, and he declares without any reservation
his absolute innocence, indicating that this is no mere man who
hangs next to me here. And then when he does this, and
this to me is the most amazing thing in the passage, when he
says to this one, though I am guilty, I die justly, and I fear
the God before whom I must soon stand, and I know that my crimes
have not been essentially and primarily against the Roman government
and against my fellow countrymen, but against the God of the universe."
He says to this man who has done nothing out of place, "'If you
will but think upon me, I will be fully prepared for the final
day of judgment.'" And when you return to establish your kingdom,
if I but have a place in your thoughts, I'll be all right.
Remember me. What kind of man is it who just
by thinking upon you can fit you to stand in the presence
of the God of the universe? He himself is no mere man. He
is the Son of God. He is God the Son. And Spurgeon
has a most perceptive comment on this very point. saying, in
addition to thus praying, you will see that the thief adores
and worships Jesus, for he says, Lord, remember me when thou comest
in thy kingdom. The petition is worded as if
he felt, only let Christ think of me, and it is enough. Let
him but remember me, and the thought of his mind will be effectual
for everything that I shall need in the world to come. This is
to impute Godhead to Christ. If a man cast his all upon the
mere memory of a person, he must have a very high esteem of that
person. If to be remembered by the Lord
Jesus is all that this man asks or desires, he pays to the Lord
great honor. I think that there was about
his prayer a worship equal to the eternal hallelujahs of cherubim
and seraphim. There was in it a glorification
of his Lord which is not excelled even by the endless symphonies
of angelic spirits who surround the throne. Thee thou hast well
done. There came to his heart a revelation
that this is the Son of God. Though they mock and taunt him,
and remember this was in all likelihood a Jew, to whom the
concept son of God was clear. This is God the Son, and he gives
his word tacit admission to this. I place all of the concerns of
my entire eternity in the hands of the one who dies in gore and
blot. Why? He had a spiritual sight
of who he was as to his person. Secondly, he had a spiritual
understanding of his position. They taunt him. Are you Messiah? Are you king? Prove your stuff.
And while he dies under the Roman king, while he dies in the eyes
of the Jews, an imposter Messiah notices prayer. Lord or Jesus,
remember me not if you possibly have a kingdom. Lord, remember
me when thou comest in thy kingdom. What an expression of He sees
in the bleeding form of this one called by his peers a fake
messiah, jeered by the Romans as no true king. He says, A,
you are a king. B, you have a kingdom. C, that
kingdom shall yet be manifested at the end of the age. And when
you come as King to manifest the kingdom in its full dimension,
Lord, as the head of that kingdom, if you but stretch out the scepter
and welcome me, all is well. You are Messiah. You are King. And then, bless God, there was
a spirit brought revelation of and confidence in the Son of
God at the third point of their taunting. You're such a big-shot
Savior. You're saying your purpose is
to save people? Show your stuff! And it's as
though the thief takes the words out of their mouth and says,
yes, I'll have him show his stop. Lord, remember me. Do you get
it? He takes for fuel for his faith
the taunting of the enemies of Christ. Lord, remember me. Me,
the natively rebellious, hard, impenitent sinner, who up to
a few moments ago from this very mouth did now plead to you as
God the Son and Messiah and King, mocked you and taunted you, Lord,
remember me, and in your remembrance there is virtue enough to blot
out the sin. There is virtue enough to change
the nature, virtue enough to do everything necessary to fit
me for the everlasting kingdom to be manifested at the last
day. And not only does he believe Christ is able to save, he believes
he's willing, or he never would have asked. There's some people
I know that are very well able to buy me three cars if I needed
them, buy me a home, do anything. But I never ask them, because
I know there's not an ounce of willingness in them. And you
don't even bother to ask. And you see, sometimes you kids,
you have problems. You know, mom and dad may be
able to give you something you need, but you're not quite sure
whether they're willing, so you've got to feel them out. Right? But he doesn't even feel out
the Lord Jesus. He beholds in him, and we'll
see later how. Let me just give you the hint.
When he heard the Lord Jesus say to the very ones who put
him on the cross, while he and his buddy no doubt are pouring
out all the follows that they've learned through the years upon
the ones who execute them, the first words that come from his
lips when the cross is implanted, harder The Spirit of God brings
back. Here's a revelation of the heart
of the man next to me. He's a forgiving Savior who delights
in mercy. And he came to a spirit-wrought
revelation of and confidence in the Lord Jesus as his own
Savior. How did the transformation come
to pass? The same way it comes to pass in everyone else whom
the Lord saves. Here was the spirit-wrought conviction
of His true condition, the spirit-wrought revelation. And my time is gone,
I'm sorry. The subject has so caught my
own spirit, I just didn't look at the clock. I'm terribly sorry.
My friend, has the Holy Spirit done for you what He did for
the dying feet? Ah, listen, listen, listen! If God takes those little
fragments and makes them effectual to the salvation of that man,
What will your condemnation be if you have the full, free proclamation
of the gospel from the base of the whole revelation of God in
Scripture, not having to draw some inferences from those who
stand before you mocking and taunting the Son of God, but
from preachers who love Him and extol Him and proclaim Him to
you? Oh, what hell of hells must be
prepared for those who turn away on the display of Christ crucified
that is given in the preaching of the gospel and child of God. Do you see yourself there? And
can you say this morning, yes, the world still mocks him, Thompson,
son of God? Can it be? Can you say, in that
inner shrine place of the heart, the Lord Jesus has been revealed?
in his essential Godhood? And you love him as Son of God? Has he been revealed as true
Messiah and King? Not King of some earthly, quasi-political,
every kind of a mixed-up kingdom, but the mediatorial King who
is bringing rebel sinners to bow before his gracious Savior? Has the Spirit revealed him as
Savior? He's also tied together. I'm
tempted to want to preach the next two sermons because it's
all so tied together. But listen, listen, listen, listen. If the Lord Jesus says, today
you'll be with me, and on the basis of faith exercised with
such fragmentary knowledge and such inadequate preaching, the
Lord, as it were, leaps to demonstrate His willingness to receive the
vilest of sinners who doesn't even have a day to work out His
salvation. He doesn't even have a day to
show his love to Christ. As one man said, the only instrument
with which he can show his love to Christ is his tongue. Everyone
else is impaled and rendered inoperative. My friend, if being saved has
anything to do with our performance, this man never could have made
it. It's one of the most amazing displays of salvation by grace
alone. Today, with me, on what basis? on the basis of what the following
paragraph teaches. Darkly shrouded the heavens from
the third to the sixth to the ninth hour, how can that vile,
wretched, offcast of humanity enter paradise with the Holy
Son of God? Because the Holy Son of God bear
every last ounce of the wrath of God due to his sin, and having
borne it, He entered with as much perfection in his standing
before God as the Apostle Paul did after serving the Lord Jesus
for years. That's the gospel we preach.
Have you embraced it, and have you embraced the Savior? Well,
may the Lord write upon our hearts these precious