I've entitled this message, The
Faith of the Dying Thief. Now I thought about, excuse me. I thought about that title, The
Faith of the Dying Thief. Well, if I would describe any
one of us, I would describe us as dying. You're dying. I'm dying. The Faith of the Dying
Thief. Now let me give you three things
regarding saving faith that I know are so. Number one, faith knows
who Christ is. Paul said, I know whom I have
believed. Faith knows who Christ is. Secondly, Saving faith relies
on Him only for salvation. Paul said, I know whom I have
believed and I am persuaded that He is able to keep that which
I've committed to Him against that day. Paul relied wholly
on who Christ is, his ability to keep that which he had committed
to him against that day of judgment. I am relying only on the Lord
Jesus Christ. And thirdly, faith comes from
hearing. Faith comes from hearing. Romans
10, 17, faith cometh by hearing. And hearing by the word of God.
And there, the word is not the word logos, but the word which
means the spoken word, the preaching of the word. Faith comes by the
preaching of the word, doing what we're doing right now. Now,
you've probably heard this, maybe you've even said it. I'd rather
see a sermon than hear one. You know, that's ignorant and
self-righteous. Now that doesn't mean that we, I want to know
people who live what they believe. I wanna be somebody who lives
what I believe. I'm not discounting that. But to say I wanna see
a sermon rather than hear one, why that's so self-righteous.
So you could judge somebody's life and get a sermon out of
it. My need is not to see somebody's example. My need is to hear the
word of God. My need is to hear the gospel. Now, this thief, his faith didn't come from what
he saw. He saw no miracle. What he did see was a man nailed
to a cross, seemingly helpless and defeated, soon to die. Without a friend in the world,
seemingly, by his own confession, he was even forsaken by God. The faith that this thief possessed
did not come from what he saw, but what he heard. I wanna read a passage from Matthew
chapter 27 that gives us some of the things he heard while
he was hanging on the cross. Verse 38, Matthew 27, verse 38. And there were two thieves crucified
with him, one on the right hand and another on the left. And
they that pass by reviled him, wagging their heads, saying,
Thou that destroyest the temple and buildest it in three days,
save thyself. If thou be the son of God, come
down from the cross. He heard that. 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 come down now 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 look at verse 44. The thieves
also which were crucified with him cast the same in his teeth. Both of these men were reviling
Christ. This man heard these statements
with regard to the Lord and he was reviling him for that. He
didn't believe that he was the Christ. Now this man also heard
the words uttered from the cross. You know, he was alive when the
Lord died, and he heard all seven of these statements. The one
that began with, Father, forgive them. They know not what they
do. And he heard him look at his
mother, who was watching, and said, Woman, behold thy son. And then he said to John, behold
thy mother. He heard the Lord Jesus Christ
say, I thirst. Oh, the depth of meaning behind
that statement. He was there in the dark right
by the Lord when the Lord cried out, my God, my God, why hast
thou forsaken me? He heard that audibly. You know
what else he heard? He heard the Lord Jesus Christ
say to him, verily I say unto you, today thou shalt be with
me. in paradise. You know, the Lord
never said that to anybody else. Just the thief. He never said
that to Moses. He never said that to Abraham.
He never said that to the Apostle Paul. He didn't say that to anybody
but this thief. No one was given more assurance
than this thief. He heard The Lord say, it is
finished. He heard that. And we know that
when the Lord said that, he said it with a cry. I feel unqualified
to try to cry it out the way he did, but he cried out, it
is finished. And the thief knew what he's
talking about at that time. And he heard the Lord say, Father,
into thy hands, I commend my spirit. And he watched the Lord
die. Faith comes by hearing and what
he heard. Never underestimate the importance
of the preaching of the Word. It's my prayer that God will
cause somebody to believe. My prayer that God will cause
us all to believe through this message. Now the timing of this
is remarkable. This is the event for which the
world was created. He was there witnessing it. He was crucified right beside
the Son of God. And I love thinking about this.
The creation of the world was for this event. You believe that? The Lord said, what shall I say? Father saved me from this hour
for this cause came I in to this hour. This is why I came. Father
glorify thy name. This man was a thief. I don't
have any reason to believe he was any different than Barabbas.
Barabbas was a robber. John tells us he was a thief,
but not only was he a thief, he was a murderer. And he was
an insurrectionist. He brought rebellion. The cross was reserved to let
people know this is what happens when you go against Rome. This
is your end if you go against Rome. It was given to intimidate
people. I wouldn't want to be nailed to a cross. This man was
more than likely a thief. slave who had escaped and became
a thief and was involved in all the same things I suppose Barabbas
was. I think they were all being crucified together. He was a
wicked man. He was a dangerous criminal.
And I dare say he was not a very religious man. You've known people like that.
Just listening to the way he reviled Christ lets you know
that he didn't think much of religion. He reviled the Lord
of glory. Now this man never gave a dime
to the cause of Christ. He was never a member of a local
church. He was never baptized. He never took the Lord's table. He had nothing that could commend
him to God and there he hangs spewing out his hatred of Christ. He resented Jesus Christ and
he let that be known. This was a thoroughly wicked
man. And you know, we don't know his
name. I think it's interesting that both of these thieves are
nameless, but you know something that's really glorious to think
about? Christ knew his name. Christ named him. He had the
name that Christ gave him. And Christ knew this man from
all eternity. Now let's look in our text in
Luke chapter 23, verse 39. And one of the male factors That word means evildoers. One
of the male factors, which were hanged, they were suffering the same
physical pain the Lord was. And what did they do? He railed
on him saying, nothing could be more blasphemous if thou be
Christ. If thou be Christ. Couldn't say
anything worse than that. I don't care what kind of cursing
you may use. Nothing is worse than this. He's
talking to the son of God. He's talking to God's Christ.
He's talking to the Lord's Christ. And he says, if thou be Christ,
prove it to me, prove it. And he asks him to do something
that he thought would be impossible. If thou be Christ, save thyself
and us. You know, he'd heard the priest
say he saved others himself. He cannot save, never have truer
words been spoken. And he was picking up on that.
If thou be the Christ, save thyself and us. Now the other had been
railing on him, but now he grows strangely silent. The railing stops. And he hears what his fellow
thief is saying, and it becomes offensive to him. It grates on
him. And even in his pain, he can't
hold his mouth at this time. He rebuked the fellow thief. Don't you fear God? Now, when he went to that cross
and was first nailed to that cross, he did not have the fear
of God. No natural man has the fear of
God. People talk about people who
are good God-fearing men and women. There's no such thing.
I hate it when people use that term. No natural man has the
fear of God. And they're not good in the first
place. Good God-fearing men and women. But this man now fears
God. The fear of worship. The fear
of reverence. You see, to know him, is to fear
Him. If you know Him, you will fear
Him, that fear that's the beginning of wisdom. That's a good description
of a Christian. someone who fears God. The fear of reverence, the fear
of respect, the fear of all. You'll only fear an absolute
sovereign. And he looked at that man, cursing
Christ, questioning whether he's the Christ. And he said, don't
you fear God. Now he also heard That this one
hanging on a cross claimed to be the son of God. He heard that. In John chapter 5 verse 18, we
read the Jews sought to kill him because he said God was his
father making himself equal with God. Now that's what they understood
when they heard him say that God was his father. He was the
son of God. He's making himself equal with
God. There's only one person who's
equal with God. God. He knew this man was God. How do you know? Do you know
he's God? Do you know everybody that knows
him knows he is God? The only way you know He's God
is if you know Him. But if you know Him, you know
He is God. The God of glory, God the Son,
equal with the Father. Now remember, faith is knowing
who He is, isn't it? Faith is knowing who He is. And
if you know who He is, you know He's God. This man knew. that Jesus Christ is God. I don't know if he knew what
he's saying, but he says to the other thief, you're in the same
condemnation he is, death on a cross. Don't you fear God seeing
you're in the same condemnation? But you know what he said about
this man who is being crucified on a cross? He's done nothing
amiss. Now, I don't know that he understood
this, but why would somebody be condemned who had done nothing
amiss? Substitutionary atonement. Did he understand that? I don't
know, but he would come to. I guarantee you he understood
it clearly in glory when he's singing, worthy is the lamb that
was slain, who has redeemed us by thy blood out of every kindred,
tongue, people, and nation. He understood. If someone's nailed to a cross who's
done nothing amiss, we know why. He was wounded for our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement of our peace
was upon him. And by his stripes, we are healed. You know that, don't you? Well,
he did too. He did too. He knew the only
hope he had was Christ Jesus, the Lord. Let me remind you,
faith is knowing who he is, and because of his knowledge of who
he is, he knew he was getting EXACTLY what he deserved! Now you know when you're going
to take full responsibility for your sin and seeing It's all
your fault, and you're getting exactly what you deserve. And
if God sends you to hell and doesn't give you any mercy, just
and holy is his name. You know when you're going to
see that? When you see who he is, not before then. When you
see who he is, that will become very clear to you. We receive the due reward of
our deeds. This man was no victim. He was
no victim. He was getting exactly what he
had coming to him. And if you ever see him, you're
gonna see the same thing about yourself. Okay, no question about
that. But what it takes is a side of
him. As long as you don't see him, you're gonna vindicate yourself,
you're gonna justify yourself. You see him, that foolishness
stops. I'm getting, we're getting exactly
what we deserve. And you know what else this man
knew? He knew Christ never sinned. He said, this man hath done nothing
amiss. Now, how did he know that? I
mean, he didn't know him very long. He was on the cross with
him for a few hours. How could he tell about his previous
33 years? How could he know that this man
had done nothing amiss? Because he knew who he was. It's that simple. If you know
who he is, you know he's incapable of sin. He's the holy one of
Israel. He can't sin. How did he know? Verse 42, and he said unto Jesus, Lord, Lord. I have no doubt that when he
called him Lord, that there were some snickers and wisecracks. Him? Lord? He doesn't much look like Lord
to me while he's hanging on a cross forsaken by everybody. You're
gonna tell me he's Lord? He's not much of a Lord if that's
what you call the Lord. That's because they didn't know
who he is. This thief knew who he was. Lord. No man can say that Jesus is
Lord, but by the Holy Ghost. Now you can say it audibly without
the Holy Ghost. I've heard it many times. Matter
of fact, you can train a parent to say Jesus is the Lord. He
might be able to say it better than you can as far as the language,
the diction. This is not talking about simply
SAYING audibly that Jesus is Lord. I remember when I went
to Cumberland College. It was a Baptist college. I thought
I was going to hang myself every day being there. I couldn't stand
it. I remember this one guy, his name was Revel, he was a
football player there. And he'd walk around and he'd
go, Jesus is Lord. And like, you know, I've got
the, it shows I have the Holy Spirit. I remember I, it just,
that just flew all over me. Every time I heard that guy do
that, I wanted to, I couldn't, he was a lot bigger than I was.
But at any rate, it, gee, but I'll tell you what, nobody can
really believe that Jesus is Lord, but by the Holy Ghost. He saw this one hanging on a
cross. And he knew that he was Lord,
the Lord of glory, the Lord of creation. He knew he was presiding
over every event of the cross. He knew he was the Lord of providence,
controlling everybody and everything. He knew he was Lord of salvation,
that salvation was in his hand. It was up to him. He proved that
the way he said, Lord, remember me. He knew he was Lord of salvation. And my dear friend, if you and
I know him, this we're sure of, he is Lord. Jesus Christ is Lord. Every knee is gonna bow. Every
tongue is gonna confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. Some of us are doing this now.
Everybody's gonna have to do it one of these days. Lord. The thief knew who he was. Now when I think of the Lordship
of Christ, you know that covers everything concerning his person.
Did the thief believe in election? He never heard it, but I guarantee
you, he knew the God of election. And somebody would have said,
God elected you. If you're gonna be saved, it's
because God elected you. He said, amen, that's the only way I'd
be saved. I guarantee you'd do that. You see, it's the knowledge
of a person. It's not just facts. What we
believe is predicated on who we believe. He believed that
Christ is Lord. If you would have asked him if
he believed in particular redemption, he would have said, well, I don't
even know what you're talking about. What's that mean? But I guarantee you, he
believed that Christ must be successful because he was Lord. He said, you're coming back as
a mighty Iranian king. You're not going to stay dead.
He couldn't think of Christ in any way as being unsuccessful. Whatever you intend to do will
be done. Remember me when you come into
your kingdom. You know, he had the same faith
as that man of which the Lord said he had the greatest faith
in Israel. Exact same faith. Lord, my servant lieth at home,
sick of the palsy, grievously tormented. And the Lord said,
I'll come and heal him. And he said, Lord, I'm not worthy
that you come under my roof. Speak the word only. I believe
your ability because you're the Lord. Speak the word only and
my servant shall be healed. You see, I understand authority.
I'm a man under authority, and I say, and one go, and he goes,
another come, he comes, another do this, he does it. I understand
authority. And I know you have absolute authority as the God
of glory. Speak the word only, and my servant
shall be healed. Lord, remember me. If you remember me, Nothing else
will need to be said. That's it. Lord, remember me
when you come into your kingdom as a mighty reigning king. And the Lord said to him, today, today, thou shalt be with me
in paradise. Now, he never said that to anybody
else. Only to this poor dying thief. Today, thou shalt be with me
in paradise. Now, let me close by asking a
few questions. Here's the first question. Do
we have the right to say that we know this man was saved? Is
there any question about that? There's no question, is there?
This man was saved. And do we have the right to say
this man was saved altogether by grace? There wasn't any other way he
could be saved. He was saved altogether by grace. He had less than nothing to recommend
him to God. For him to be saved, it was absolutely
necessary that salvation should be all of grace. If there's anything
he had to do before he could be saved, he was toast. For this man, salvation had to
be all of grace. And do we have the right to say
that Christ is able to save the very chief of sinners from this
man's example? Wherefore He is able to save
them to the uttermost that come unto God by Him. Do we have the right to say that
a believer enters heaven to be with Christ immediately upon
death? You know, someone says, well, what happens when you die?
Is there soul sleep? Do you become, well, I know the
Lord said to this man today, thou shalt be with me. That's
what heaven is in paradise. What is paradise? Being with
him. And here's the last question.
Do we not have the right to say that if we are saved, we are
saved the exact same way that thief was? The dying thief rejoiced to see
that fountain in his day. And there may I, though vile
as he, wash all my sins away. Let's pray. Lord, how we thank you for the
simplicity of the gospel and Lord, we will not know you except
you're pleased to make yourself known. And we pray that you would
make yourself known to each person here. Show me thy grace that I might
know thee. We ask that we would be given
ears to hear the glorious gospel. In Christ's name we pray, amen. Drew, come lead us in our closing
hymn. Let's close with that song. I
had something else, but we'll sing There is a Fountain, hymn
number 222. Theme number 222. There is a fountain filled with
blood drawn from Emmanuel's veins. And sinners plunge beneath that
flood, lose all their guilty stains. Lose all their guilty
stains. Lose all their guilty stains. And sinners plunge beneath that
flood, lose all their guilty stains. The dying thief rejoiced
to see that fountain in his day. And there may I, though vile
as He, wash all my sins away. Wash all my sins away. Wash all my sins away. There may I, though vile as he,
wash all my sins away. Dear dying leap, thy precious
blood shall never lose its power. And all the ransomed Church of
God be saved to sin no more. Be saved to sin no more. Be saved to sin no more. And all the ransomed Church of
God Be safe to sin no more. E'er since, by faith, I saw the
stream Thy flowing wounds supply, Redeeming love has been my theme,
and shall be till I die, and shall be till I die, and shall
be till I die. Redeeming love has been my theme
and shall be till I die. When this poor, this spin-stammering
tongue Lies silent in the graves, Then in a nobler, sweeter song
I'll sing thy power to save. I'll sing Thy power to save. I'll sing Thy power to save. And in a nobler, sweeter song,
I'll sing Thy power to save. Yeah. Yeah. an an Thank you. Thank you.