I invite your attention to the
gospel according to Luke, 23rd chapter. My passage will be from verses 32 through 43. Luke 23, beginning in verse number
32. We're considering here the crucifixion
of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. This morning's message
is titled, Seven Other Sayings from the Cross. In verse 32, Luke writes, There were also two others, criminals,
led with Him, Jesus, to be put to death. And when they had come
to the place called Calvary, there they crucified Him. And the criminals, one on the
right hand and the other on the left, that means that Jesus was
on the middle cross that indicated that he was considered to be
the worst criminal. You always hang the worst criminal
on the middle cross. Then Jesus said, Father, forgive
them, for they do not know what they do. And they divided his
garments and cast lots. And the people stood looking
on, but even the rulers with them sneered, saying, he saved
others. Let him save himself, if he is
the Christ, the chosen of God. And the soldiers also mocked
him, coming and offering him sour wine and saying, if you
are the king of the Jews, save yourself. And an inscription
also was written over him in letters of Greek, Latin, and
Hebrew. This is the King of the Jews. Actually, that placard read probably
in its entirety, Jesus of Nazareth, or this is Jesus of Nazareth,
King of the Jews, written in three languages so that everyone
would know who he is. Then one of the criminals who
were hanged, remember there were two of them, one of them blasphemed
Jesus saying, if you are the Christ, save yourself and us. Now it is no longer save yourself,
it's save yourself and us. But the other criminal answering
rebuked him saying, Do you not even fear God? Seeing you are
under the same condemnation? Now, we're gonna be looking at
seven statements made by this criminal, this second criminal.
That was the second one. Do you not even fear God? And
the other five are in what he will say afterward. And we indeed justly, for we
receive the due reward of our deeds. But this man has done
nothing wrong. Then he said to Jesus, Lord,
remember me when you come into your kingdom. And Jesus said
to him, assuredly I say to you, today you will be with me in
paradise. Now, I have titled this message,
Seven Other Sayings from the Cross. Now, if there are seven
other sayings, that means that there were seven sayings other
than these seven, and there were. When Jesus Christ was hanged
on the cross, he said seven sentences or seven words And I have them
here in the synopsis for you, the seven sayings of Jesus Christ
on the cross. First, Father forgive them for
they do not know what they do. And he said this at the beginning
of his crucifixion as they nailed him to the tree. Second, assuredly
I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise. Jesus
said that to the repentant criminal. Third, he looked and saw his mother
and the disciple John standing in front of him and he said,
woman, behold your son. And when he said your son, he
was not referring to himself. He was referring to John as though
to say, woman, behold your son. John is now your son. And John, behold your mother. And from that day on, John took
Jesus's mother home and took care of her evidently until the
day she died. The fourth saying of Jesus Christ
was, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? And this was
said at about high noon when the sun refused to shine, when
darkness enveloped the earth and the Son of God began to suffer. for the sins of God's people
when the wrath of God really began to be poured upon him.
And he said, my God, he didn't call him father, my God, my God,
why have you forsaken me? The fifth saying, I thirst. The sixth saying, it is finished. He said that about three hours
after saying, My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? And
then his last saying was, Father, into your hands I commit my spirit. Now those were the seven words
of Christ from the cross. You could preach a whole series
on that easily, that there is so much import in those words
that Jesus uttered on the cross. But here in this criminal, this
repentant criminal, there are also seven words from his cross
and they really set forth the gospel of our Lord and Savior,
Jesus Christ. Let's consider them. First of
all, were the words of revilement
and blasphemy. There were many of these. Matthew
records them. In fact, if you will locate Matthew
chapter 27, the gospel according to Matthew chapter 27, Matthew
records what some of these said that day. Matthew 27, verse 38. Then two robbers were crucified
with Him, one on the right hand and another on the left. And
those who passed by, because there was a roadway in front
of the place where Jesus was crucified, they blasphemed Him,
wagging their heads and saying, you who destroyed the temple
and built it in three days, save yourself. If you are the Son
of God, come down from the cross. Likewise, the chief priests also
mocking with the scribes and the elders said, he saved others,
himself he cannot save. If he is the king of Israel,
let him now come down from the cross and we will believe him.
He trusted in God, let God deliver him now, if God will have him,
for he said, I am the son of God. And even the robbers who
were crucified with him reviled him with the same thing. Even
the robbers. And this criminal, the one we're
considering today, I do not know if he was on the right hand or
the left hand of Christ, but wherever, whichever it was, he
was there doing it also, looking over in Jesus and sneering at
him and mocking him and deriding him and blaspheming him. And this man was a criminal even
there on the cross with words of revilement. Now, little did
they know those people that they were fulfilling a prophecy. Jesus
had prophesied of this 1,000 years earlier in the 22nd Psalm. He said, but I'm a worm and no
man, a reproach of men despised by the people. All those who
see me ridicule me, they shoot out the lip, they shake the head
saying, he trusted in Jehovah. Let him rescue him, let him deliver
him since he delights in him, or so he said. And little did
they know that as they mocked and derided Jesus Christ that
day, they were fulfilling prophecy, unwittingly fulfilling prophecy
written or said by Jesus Christ a thousand years earlier. Now
you may look on that occasion and you may say, Could those people blaspheme
and deride and mock Jesus Christ and sneer at Him like that? They did it the same way that
you and I have done it. Every one of us here is guilty
of deriding and blaspheming Jesus Christ. I give you some examples
here. We reviled Christ if we disrespected
him like those who did so on Mount Calvary. We reviled Christ
if we took his name in vain, even with immense doaths such
as gee whiz, cheese and rice, or in the local vernacular, cheese
and bread, Christ's sake. That's taking his name in vain.
We reviled Christ if we denied his deity. We reviled Christ
if we represented his death with an idol such as a crucifix or
a cross worn as jewelry. We reviled Christ if we denied
that he will save all for whom he died. We reviled Christ if
we claimed to fulfill God's law, for if righteousness comes through
the law, then Christ died in vain, Galatians 2, 21. We reviled
Christ if we claimed the believers may lose their salvation and
afterward be saved again, since they crucify again for themselves
the Son of God and put Him to an open shame, Hebrews 6, 6. And we reviled Christ when we
refused to believe His gospel and trust in Him. Now, as you
can see, that, my friend, is every one of us. Every one of
us has heard the gospel. Sometime in the past, we heard
the gospel and said, nope, won't believe it. Nope, nope, nothing
to do with it. And when we did, we were just
like these people there at the foot of the cross of Jesus Christ
and reviling Him. We reviled Him when we rejected
Him. We reviled Him when we disbelieved
in Him. And I hope that there is no one
here today Still reviling and blaspheming the Lord and Savior
Jesus Christ. But this man did. Some of his
words were the same words of these others. They echoed and
aped and mimicked what they heard coming from others. But now consider
his second word. Here it is, verse 40. Do you
not even fear God? Now consider this saying in its
context, beginning in verse 39. Then one of the criminals who
were hanged blasphemed Jesus saying, if you are the Christ,
save yourself and us. But the other criminal answering
rebuked him saying, do you not even fear God? Whoa, something
has happened. This criminal has been reviling
Christ, deriding Christ, sneering Christ, mocking Christ, and now he's fearing Christ. Something has happened. What
happened? He's been converted. Right here
at this point, there is a remarkable change. He has completely turned
around. He has done a 180 degree, completely
turned around. He had changed from one who reviled
Christ to one who feared God in a holy manner. And he said,
I fear God. Do you not fear God? Now, what
is it to fear God? What is it to fear God? Our English word, fear. translates
the Greek word meaning phobia. Now you know what a phobia is.
A phobia is a dread of something. Some people have arachnophobia,
that is a fear of spiders. Any spider they see, they jump
back, they are afraid. I've seen people who have a fear
of snakes. Doesn't matter what kind of a
snake it is, they're afraid of it. In fact, they dread snakes,
want nothing to do with them. Well, here is what we call deophobia,
the fear of God. Now, we must here distinguish
because there are two different types of deophobia, or the fear
of God. One of these is bad. I hope you
do not have it. One of these is good and holy.
I hope you have it. This repentant criminal had this
good and holy phobia. What is the first phobia, the
first dread of God? It is that which is afraid of
being in His presence. Men may claim, I'm not afraid
of God. I some years ago had some people
come to a place where I was pastoring and they were going to do some
work and they knew that I was the pastor of the church and
they wanted me to know that they were religious and they told
me what church they were members of and they said, but you know,
we hear people saying that they fear God. We do not fear God. We're not afraid of Him. Really? You better be, you better be. Some will be afraid of God when
they meet Him in judgment, when they die and they stand before
Him. They may say now, I'm not afraid of Him. Oh, you will be
then, you will be then. When you stand before God and
you know you are undone, you've broken His law and you fear His
power and His retribution. Men will tremble in great fear
and dread before God. But the other fear we call reverential
fear. Now this also is a dread. This
is a dread. This is not the dread of God's
presence. This is the dread of displeasing
Him. That is a good dread. Do you
feel that You love God so much, you have
His law before you, and you are in dread fear of doing something
that displeases Him. I have the dread of doing something
that displeases my wife. Well, then most certainly I should
have the fear or the dread of doing something that pleases
God. And this is a good fear. It's a reverential fear. It says,
Lord, I dread the thought that I might sin against you. I dread
the thought that I might do anything to displease you. I want to honor
you. That's the fear of God. And that
is a good fear. When you had that fear, it drives
away the other fear. Paul the Apostle speaks of this
when he says that you did not receive the spirit
of bondage again to fear, but you received the spirit of adoption
by whom we cry out, Abba, Father. When some men are called to stand
before God and they are undone, they're going to go, Oh no! God's
the judge! And they're going to shake and
quake and fall back in fear. Let me ask you something. Should
you be ushered right this moment into God's presence, would you
fear Him as your judge? No, no, no. You would say, oh
yes, God my Father! And you'd run to Him with love
and adoration. But you'd still have a fear of
Him. You'd dread the thought of displeasing
Him. Well, now what did this criminal
mean when he said to the other, do you not even fear God? It
is as though he said, you will meet God very shortly. And yet
you are rejecting and deriding and blaspheming his son. your
only hope of a Savior. Do you not dread the thought
of meeting God on such terms? And I would ask if there's anyone
here unrepentant. I hope there's not, but if there
is, I'm going to ask you the same question. That's a good
question to be asked. You're going to stand before
God one of these days. Do you want to meet God with
the words of reviling Christ on your tongue. Third saying,
you are under the same condemnation as Jesus. Verse 40, paraphrase. It is as though he said, you
and Jesus were condemned alike as criminals and now are undergoing
the same punishment. Have you no humanity? Must you
insult a fellow sufferer to the delight of his enemies? Truly
there is no honor among thieves. But a gospel truth is, pardon
me, here also expressed. Both Jesus and the blaspheming
criminal were under condemnation from God for their sins. Listen to me carefully on this
point, my friends. That blaspheming criminal and
Jesus Christ were both under condemnation from God for their
sins. Oh, of course, the blaspheming
criminal, he's under condemnation from God. But what about Jesus? He never sinned. That's true. He never sinned. Jesus Christ
never sinned. But Jesus Christ on Calvary had
more sins than any person who ever lived. They were his sins. Go back to Psalm number 40, the
40th Psalm. This 40th Psalm is a psalm of
Jesus Christ. It is a messianic psalm. These
are his words all the way through. These are the words of our Lord
and Savior, Jesus Christ. Consider what he says in Psalm
40, verse 12. For innumerable evils have forsaken
me. My iniquities have overtaken
me so that I'm not able to look up. My iniquities are more than
the hairs of my head, and therefore my heart fails me. Those are
the words of Jesus Christ. He said, my iniquities. But wait a minute, preacher.
He never committed a sin. That's true. He never committed
a sin. But when he's on the cross, God
took the sins of all his people and laid them on Jesus Christ. Oh, my brother, you. You have sinned like me so much. My sins are more than the hair
of my head, I cannot count them. My brother, your sins are more
than the hair of your head. My sister, your sins and your
sins and your sins, our sins, every one of us has sins that
we cannot count, more than the hairs of our head. And God took
the sins of us, His people, and laid them on Christ so that they
are no longer our sins. They're His sins. And now Jesus
Christ on the cross bears more sins than, He has more sins than
anyone who ever lived. He was numbered with the transgressors. God made Him to be sin for us. He is under condemnation. Since
he's been made to be sin, sin must be imputed to him. It must
be charged to his account. No one had more sin ever than
Jesus Christ on Calvary, when he was made sin for God's people,
when he was numbered with the transgressors, when he was the
substitute and the representative of sinners, and when their sins
became his sin. This resulted in Jesus saying,
my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? The reason why God
forsook him was Jesus Christ on that cross was numbered with
the transgressors, counted as a sinner, made sin, was sin, and charged
with it. He's under condemnation. Fourth, the criminal said, you
and I are justly under condemnation, verse 41. Both these men crucified
with Jesus were justly condemned by the Roman government for being
criminals. It is thought that they were
probably accomplices of Barabbas, a notorious criminal, the one
who was released when Jesus took his place. That should have been
Barabbas on that middle cross, the leader of this gang of thieves. That should have been Barabbas,
but Jesus took his place as his substitute there on Calvary's
cross. And these men were probably accomplices
of Barabbas, and they are justly under condemnation. And you and
I are justly under condemnation, for all have sinned. And this
is the condemnation. that light has come into the
world through Christ in the gospel and men loved darkness rather
than light because their deeds were evil. All of us are by nature
condemned before God because all of us have sinned and our
sins have condemned us. Now the fifth statement that
he made was, we receive the due reward of our deeds, verse 41.
It is as though he said, the reward for our deeds is the penalty
of death now being inflicted on us. Our crimes are so great
that we deserve to die for them. And they, and you and I, in our
natural state, we deserve the penalty of death for our sins. The wages of sin is death. When you work, you get your wages. At the end of the week, when
you've done your work, you go and you expect to get the wages
for the hours you put in. Well, God's going to pay your
wages for the sins that you have committed. You've earned it.
You've earned it. What are the wages? The wages
of sin is death. The soul that sins shall die. And this death is the second
death. It is Gehenna. It'll be experienced after the
final judgment when all unrepentant sinners stand before the great
white throne of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, and are
there condemned for their sins, and they're sent to the lake
of fire that burns forever with fire and brimstone, and there
to suffer the punishment for their sins. We deserve that. And we receive it if we receive
the due reward of our deeds. But look at the sixth saying,
and also in verse 41, this man has done nothing wrong. This man has done nothing wrong. We're not told how he knew this.
Perhaps he was among those who knew that Jesus had done nothing
but good everywhere he went, Acts 10, 37 and 38. Perhaps he
was aware that Pontius Pilate had at least thrice declared,
I find no fault in him, John 18, verses 38, chapter 19, verses
four and six. Perhaps he had been favorably
impressed by the holy manner in which Jesus conducted himself
during his agony. But undoubtedly, he had been
convinced by the Holy Spirit of Jesus Christ's innocence.
And I ask, have you? Have you looked upon Jesus Christ
and seen him as he truly is? and said, this man has done nothing
wrong. This was a criminal, a criminal
that was crucified with Jesus. And finally, he has been convinced,
as we said, we do not know how, but he says, this man has done
nothing wrong. Now, everything that he has said
thus far. Well, the blasphemy had been
directed to Jesus. And this is interesting in that,
The blasphemies were directed to Jesus, then the five sayings
afterward were directed to the other criminal, and then the
last words were directed to Jesus. But these are different from
the first words. In his first words that he said,
he spoke When he spoke to Jesus, they were words of blasphemy.
But now, he has changed. He's been converted and he says,
Lord, remember me when you come in your kingdom. Verse 42. Our English translation has this
believer speaking of Jesus coming into your kingdom. Lord, remember
me when you come into your kingdom, but the Greek preposition probably
is better translated in. Jesus already was in his kingdom. So therefore, he was not going
to come into his kingdom. He was already in it. But this
thief, he had learned a great deal of theology there on that
cross. And he realizes that this Jesus
is coming back to earth one of these days. He will come in the
glory of His kingdom. He is a King coming back in the
glory of His kingdom. And He says, Lord, I know You're
coming back one of these days, and when You come back, remember
Me. Remember Me in mercy and in grace. I'm trusting in You. I'm believing
in You. I'm pleading with You that when
You come in Your kingdom, when You sit on Your throne of glory,
remember Me in mercy. When you, in faith, ask Jesus
Christ for something. I remember my father telling
me this when I was a lad. He said, the Lord will always
give you more than you ask for. The Lord will give you more than
you ask for. This man says, Lord, Sometime
at the end of this age, you're coming back to earth and when
you come back, remember me on that final day, remember me and
Jesus said, I'll do better than that. Today, today, you will
be with me in paradise. I'm telling you that today, as
soon as you die, When your spirit leaves your body, you're gonna
be with me in heaven. And that's the word that Jesus
gave to that man. Jesus gives you more than you
ask for. This man, this, can you imagine? This man was one of the first
ever to experience the truth that to be absent from the body
is to be present with the Lord. Think about it, because Jesus,
when he died, they put his body in a tomb, but he's in heaven. When this man died, he died after
Jesus died. Jesus died He said, father, receive
my spirit. I commit it to you. And the father
said, send it on. And Jesus' spirit went to be
with this father. And a short time afterward, this
man, this criminal died. And the very moment he died,
guess what happened? Jesus received him in heaven. Today, you will be with me in
paradise. I'll tell you folks, Jesus gives
us more than we ask for. Let me say this about this man.
You've heard of deathbed confessions. Here's a man, and they happen
quite often in hospital rooms. People go to a hospital and are
told you got cancer or you got this or you know, it's not looking
good. Oh, get me a preacher, get a
preacher in here. And you know, so they wanna get
religion, all right? And show me how to get saved. And so the preacher shows them
how to get saved and they make a confession and there they are
on their hospital bed as they're about to die. They say, I'm going
to heaven, I'm going to heaven. And then lo and behold, they
get well, get out of the hospital and go back to what they were
doing before, just forgot all about it. And so, you know, deathbed
confessions. We do not put a whole lot of
stock in them, do we? We've seen too many people make
a confession when they thought they were gonna die, and then
when they got well, they forgot all about it. Well, let me tell
you this. In all the Holy Scriptures, to
the best of my knowledge, here is the only effectual deathbed
confession. This man is on his deathbed. He's gonna die in just a few
minutes. He confessed Christ and Christ
said, you are saved. So, there's one. There is one deathbed confession
in the scriptures. Therefore, they are possible,
right? They are possible. But there
is only one. Therefore, they are very few. But I want you to know this,
Jesus Christ's promise to this criminal is the same to all who
believe in him. If you believe in Jesus Christ,
I tell you right now, my friend, upon the authority of God's word,
that when your spirit leaves your body, you're gonna be present
with the Lord. You're gonna be with that repentant
criminal in heaven. It's gonna be with Jesus. It's
gonna be with all who have trusted in him. These seven sayings have
set forth the gospel of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. I'm looking forward to seeing
this criminal. He was never baptized, never took the Lord's Supper, never joined a church, Never
did a good deed. And yet, this man proves to us
that salvation is by God's free and sovereign grace alone. This man could do nothing to
merit it. God saved him by grace. God still
saves criminals. I'm so glad God saves criminals. Since he saves criminals, he
can save me. He can save you. Do what this
man did. Lord, remember me when you come
in your kingdom. And oh God, our father, to the
glory of your name and to the honor of your son, Jesus Christ,
bless this word. And may a bunch of us be repentant,
saved criminals. To your glory in Jesus' name,
we pray. Amen.