In this thief we see a true manifestation
of repentance and faith. He said, we indeed justly. You know, if God sends you to
hell, it'll be just. And by the way, if God takes
you to heaven, He'll be just. God will be just. He's a holy
God and what He does is absolutely right. He Himself became your
reconciler, your redeemer, your propitiation, your justifier. He's just and justifier of the
ungodly. You needed somebody that was
able to be just and holy and righteous. Not a judge you could
pay off. What a crooked thing that is,
to go into court and a judge has been paid off. No. God found a way to be just and
justifier of the ungodly and take you to heaven without getting
himself dirty. Isn't that something? How can
God lay hold of you, dirty person, and not get himself dirty? Well,
God found a way to do that. The thief acknowledged his guilt
and the justice of his condemnation. He owns his sinnership. His sins
have found him out. He passed his sentence upon himself.
Have you done that yet? Have you passed sentence upon
yourself? Oh, you know, there must be something
wrong with the drops. You're not quite there yet. Lie
like a rug. Do you know people lie like a
rug? Somebody ought to say, Amen. I hope you know that. I didn't
do it. Really. Really. This repentance, when the sinner
feels that punishment itself is sweet, I mean, when you feel,
I'm getting exactly what I deserve, it's only right. Because you're so deeply sensible
to what sin deserves. Are you sensible to that? That
if God sent you to hell, he would just be giving you what you deserved. What an amazing thing it is not
to go to hell. God's not gonna hear the last
of it when I see him either. Amen. Amen. Have you taken this
position before God? The thief's repentance towards
God was accompanied with faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ.
He trusted Christ. What an amazing thing this is.
This thief believed in the free, unmerited grace of God that was
found in Jesus Christ. He believes the truth about Christ
and the truth of Christ. No doubt the thief saw the writing
over the cross. This is Jesus, King of the Jews.
Well, who's going to believe that? You're hanging here on
Golgotha, the place of the skull, between two thieves. To crooks, who's going to believe
that you're king of the Jews? Nobody unless God does something.
But isn't it an amazing thing that God didn't leave Himself
without a witness on that day? This thief said, Lord, wait a
minute. Lord, Master, Boss, Sovereign
One. He's dying on a cross. Yet the thief saw something other
people didn't see. Lord, you're my Lord. Remember me when you come into
your kingdom. Kingdom? What kingdom? You know, there are many of us
here that are in his kingdom. We have a king. I'll tell you
flat out, Jesus is my king. What a wonder it is. that you
believe this crucified Christ is King of kings and Lord of
lords and He's your Lord. The heart of faith of this thief
rested savingly on Christ. I wonder if you can do that tonight.
Yeah, you're a mess. Can you just rest savingly on
Christ? I mean, can you just give it
all up? Can you raise the white flag? Can you lay the shotgun
down? Can you stop your rebellion against not believing on the
Lord Jesus Christ? You see, not believing on Christ
is flat out rebellion. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.
That's the command of Almighty God. Believe My Son. Trust My
Boy. Lean on Him. If He's converted
you, you're going to acknowledge Him as your King, just like this
thief. You see, here was divine illumination. What else can you contribute
this to? Do you get the scene? Two thieves
nailed to a cross, hands and feet, and the king of kings on
the middle cross, and this thief turns to him and says, Lord,
remember me. Don't you think that's a miraculous
thing? Isn't that an awesome thing? See, it wasn't reasonable that
Christ should notice this thief. It doesn't make any sense. I
mean, I try to figure it all out about why would God love
me. I really can't find a good answer to that outside of the
message of grace. It has to be with me. This unmerited
favor, this what we call Calvinism, this truth of the Bible, that
we are saved by grace alone is just not a creed and a doctrine
to me. It's my life, it's my substance,
it's the bread of heaven. It's my reason for living, and
I'm about to get happy here by myself, mate. With the heart
man believes. Do you have a new heart? Has
God given you a new heart? And a heart to believe on the
Lord Jesus Christ?