One of the most comforting positions
that a believer finds themselves in is knowing that they're frail. Knowing that they are of themselves
helpless creatures. That's a comfort. Because I'm
going to tell you something. Man by nature is proud. He's proud. And he's arrogant
and he's haughty. And he's lifted up in himself. And almighty God is not going
to allow his people to go through this world and leave this world
with a proud, high hearty attitude that dominates. Now we've got
it. We've got it. We are so arrogant. And by the grace of God, he'd
been pleased to bring his people down and cause them to see something. of themselves. The scripture declares in John
6, 44, and they, it's his people, they
shall, now here's a good word, they shall, not maybe, not possibly,
Not, I hope so. They shall all be taught of God. They're going to all be taught
of God. There's nothing that is more beautiful. Number one, the sight of the
Lord and to see his children. following Him. He makes them.
He makes them to follow. He draws them to Himself. He
makes them see Him. I pray that today that the Lord
is pleased to draw us to Himself afresh. We need to be drawn. We need to be brought. We need
to be kept. I want you to turn with me to
a passage of scripture. It's Luke chapter 23. Luke 23. Luke chapter 23. This is a very,
very familiar passage of scripture that I found myself being drawn
to many times. Luke 23. Verse 34. Listen to this prayer of the
Lord. A prayer that you know that is
always answered. Luke 23. 34 then said Jesus Father. Forgive them. They know not what they Father,
forgive them. Now let me tell you something
that's comforting about that. Whatever the Lord asks of His
Father, He's going to have it. And that quiets my heart. I want to be found in that group
that the Lord's praying for. I want that. I need that. And you that know him know you
need it too. There's passages of scripture
that are found within the word of God that seem to be especially
blessed to our hearts. And this particular passage that
I want to also consider this morning is one that, according
to the Lord's good pleasure, reaches into the heart of God's
people, reaches into the depth of their
need and answers a certain question, a certain searching question
that their mouth can't even utter. I don't know how to say. I don't
know how to ask. I don't know what to do. That's the heart of a believer.
They just, they need Him. A passage I'd like for us to
also consider this morning is that passage that is looked at
many times by God's people. It's found in Luke. 23, same chapter that we're in. It's verse 42. It's a passage that was uttered
by a sinner that Almighty God had been pleased to do something
for. On the day of our Lord's crucifixion,
The scripture revealed that there was two malefactors, two ruffians,
two scoundrels, two sinners, two men that had gone through
their lives just being rebel rousers, like me and you, just
like that. And these men, according to the
eternal counsel of Almighty God, were caught. These were thieves. They were sinners. They were
ruffians. They'd been caught by the long
arm of the law and by the good pleasure of God, especially for
one of them. This was going to be a day that
this man is never going to forget. up until this moment, until that
time that the Lord was pleased to call him unto himself, powerfully
call him. This man had gone through his
life like all of us. Now, I don't want us to forget,
you know, that we're not just looking at history here. We're
looking at a picture, a scriptural picture of every object of God's
mercy. Who are these men? One of them gonna be left to himself. But
there was one of them that Almighty God was going to show mercy and
compassion. Neither one of them deserved
it. Again, they're both just like me and you. We don't deserve
the mercy of God. For a while there, both of them
railed on the Lord. Both of them so disrespectful. They hadn't received anything
in this world that they deserved concerning mercy. But there was
a day in which these two thieves Caught, tried, convicted, sentenced,
and now here they are. They're gonna die. The long arm
of the law has apprehended them, and they're gonna stand truly
before God. Oh, there was some, there was
a court there, They'd been tried by the court of man and they'd
been found guilty. They deserved to be there. While these two men stood before
the long arm of the law, convicted justly, something happened to
one of them that we're not even told. anything other than that they
were both railing on the Lord. And while they both railed on
the Lord, both of them, Scripture says, one of the passages says
they both accused Him, all of a sudden there was one of them. And we witnessed a miracle of
God's grace. One of them, by the grace of
God, changed his tune, changed his talking, his attitude was
different. And while at one moment he was
doing just exactly what the other one was doing, accusing the Lord,
the Scripture says in Luke 23, 42, one of them said unto Jesus, Remember me when thou comest
into thy kingdom. I've read that passage of scripture,
I don't know how many times, you too. Remember. Would you recollect? Lord, would you reminisce? Would you, Lord, bring to your
mind? Lord, would you preserve in your
memory me? Lord, I've never thought on you with
the respect that you're due. I've never spoken of you, Lord,
in terms of endearment as you deserve. Lord, concerning this
sinner right here, this sinner of the baser sort, this one that's
been caught and convicted, what he's done. Lord, one that is
now getting ready to leave this world. Lord, one that's getting
ready to face the sure judgment that I deserve. Lord, this one
is being crucified and deserves to be crucified,
deserves to die. Lord, would you remember me? The thought of reading that change
of heart and just seeing the miracle of God's grace just strikes
a note in my heart of thanksgiving. Lord, you did this for him. Will you do this for me? Lord,
remember me. I think about the years of studying,
being, or trying to be thankful. And I realized, Mike, I've never
been thankful as I ought to. All of this time of going through
this world, And here's one that the scripture didn't flower anything. It didn't kind of put any fluff
on this one. This man was a thief, a robber. One that had disrespected God
and man. If anybody deserved to die, I'm
sure he did. Here's one just like me. Lord, would you think on this
sinner, this is one, just like all the
multitudes of this world, all, you know that word, pretty inclusive,
all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. Everybody,
everybody. We've never, in our old man,
old self, we've never even desired one time to honor God. Not one
time have I ever saw or thought, perceived any good thought, that
old man that I see in me, that is in my flesh. There dwelleth
no good thing. But here was one that according
to the word of the Lord, God showed mercy. Here was one that
before the foundation of the world, Almighty God had determined,
He's going to order the steps of this man in all the days of
this man's life, just like the other one. Again, no different. And He comes down to this day.
Look at the providence of God. Look at the providential mercy
of Almighty God. Almighty God had determined this
man's not going to be caught, tried, convicted, brought to
justice on another day. He's going to come this day.
He's going to come on the day that the Lord of Glory Himself
is going to be crucified. And here He is. I know that He was worthless
just like me. because of what I said just a
few minutes ago about the way he was acting, how the Lord providentially permitted
this man to continue doing just what he was doing, railing on
the Lord just like he was. Nobody's going to say, well,
this man, he wasn't cut out of the same lump as the other one.
Oh, yes, he was. He was doing just exactly what
the other one was doing. They both railed on Him. But
here the Lord had ordered and directed eternally before the
foundation of the world, He's going to stand before God in
human flesh, hanging on a cross, and we're going to behold the
effect of God's grace to show mercy. The Lord had said, I will
have mercy on whom I will have mercy. And here was a thief,
an elect thief, chosen by God. And here he was, and God allowed
us to see just exactly what he was, just what we are, doing
just exactly what he wanted to do. And then in a moment, without
any explanation except God was pleased to show mercy. He comes and he says to the Lord, Lord, when you come into your kingdom,
think of the beauty of that statement. He'd just been treating the Lord
with so much disrespect. Lord, when you come into your
kingdom, He knew this is the King of Glory. This is the King
that's going to come into His kingdom. This is the King of
Kings. This is the Lord of Lords. Would you remember me? Scripture, would you remember
me? That came to my mind as I was looking over these verses here. I never really realized how frail
we are. Let me say me. I'll speak for
me. I never really realized how frail
I was until the Lord blessed me. with this, with this stroke. There's things that I think I won't, I'm not gonna
forget that. And I'm telling you without even batting an eye,
Chuck, I just can't remember. I might just forget a name. I might forget a place. I might,
I mean, just, just things and then possibly I'll remember. And I'm thinking, you know, I am so frail. I can't even remember
certain things. Then the Lord will allow me to
hear it, and it comes back to my mind. And it's like, OK, that
remembrance has been taught through this little avenue of these brain
cells. That's what the doctor told me.
They said, what's going to happen is you will reconnect with certain
things and things that you had blocked for a while, you'll be
able to have a new avenue and you'll remember. I never knew
that. I always thought, I'm not going
to forget. I'll never forget the Lord. After the Lord saved me, the
Lord said, a mother will forget her baby. I said, can a mother
forget her baby? The fruit of her own womb, can
a mother, the Lord said, yeah, she'll remember, but He said,
I won't forget you. I won't forget what I have eternally
promised. I'm not going to forget. I mean,
just these things that I can't remember. You mean to tell me
that the Lord, according to his word and purpose, that he says,
heaven and earth gonna pass away. But he said, my love for you
will never pass away. It'll never leave. I didn't know that, Don. I mean,
I've read it, but I just, I think, I think I know a little bit more
about it. I think I do. That which is eternally
purposed for me, we forget. I forget to focus. I've had people talking to me,
and they're talking to me, and I'm looking at them. Just like
I'm looking at you, Nancy. They may be talking to me and
all of a sudden I realize I've wandered off somewhere while
they were talking. I've done that to Glenda. I'd be thinking
about something and she's telling me something and all of a sudden
I wandered off. And then all of a sudden I come
back to reality and hope she doesn't ask me what she just
said. You ever done that? Yeah, I have. I heard John Chapman made this
statement this morning, Hannah, my daughter told me about it
and I thought that's so good. Whenever the Lord is dealing
with us, we have his undivided attention. I thought that's so good. That's
so wonderful. This thief, He saw something of what he was,
and the Lord was pleased to reveal to him what is what revealed
to him his need. He called him out of darkness.
And when he asked that question, Lord, when you enter into your
kingdom, think about this statement right here, this question that
he asked. Would you remember me? I mean, you think about you,
or for me, asking the Lord that. Lord, I know you got a kingdom. We know that, don't we? We know
that. At least we know it in our mind. But to know it in our heart.
Lord, when you come into your kingdom, Would you recollect? Would you bring back to memory?
Lord, would you remember me? All the people that's ever been
in this world, all the people that you've everlastingly loved,
all the people that you've been pleased to call out of darkness,
would you remember this insignificant, this needy sinner? Listen to this. And Jesus said unto him, verily,
this is one of those, you can write this one down, Bear. Verily,
I say unto thee, today, today, shalt thou be with
me in paradise. Joseph was in prison, and he
helped get a butler out of jail. And Joseph asked him, he said,
when you go before the king, would you remember to mention
me? Oh yeah, oh yeah, don't worry
about it, I got your back, I got your back. He wasn't out of jail,
Sammy, before he forgot. And Joseph sat there for another
year or so. The Lord said, verily, verily,
you're going to be with me today in paradise. I'll remember. You know, you think that's what we've got. We got
his word. I've got his promise. He told me he's promised me. Here was a vessel of God's mercy
plucked from the bondage, the condemnation of sin. Plucked out of spiritual darkness. One that left this world. That sinner on the day that the
Lord was crucified. He left this world in the liberty. Went to that cross that day in
bondage. Bondage of sin, bondage of self.
Bondage of rebellion against God. But he left that day in
freedom. Freedom. In the freedom and liberty
of the Lord Jesus Christ. The one that he saw hanging on
that cross. Hanging there for him. Dying
for him. one that had everlastingly loved
him. Beloved, closing, we who by the
grace of God has been made to remember his
words. Today, one of these days is gonna
be that day for me, that day for you, today. Today, You'll
be with me in paradise. The scripture says in Psalm 136,
23, he remembered us in our estate for his mercy endureth forever. Last verse, Psalm 103, as a father pitieth his children, I got one of my kids here today.
Let me ask you something. Let me ask you this. I know the
answer. I think I do. But if there was
something that my daughter, my son-in-law, needed, and it was
within my power to do it, I think, I think I would do what I could. I think I would. I'm not even
gonna say I know I would. No, I don't know that. Knowing something of myself,
I'd turn my back on them if I thought truly. If the situation was right,
I know I would based on what this scripture says. The Lord
said, A mother will forget her child. Well, if a mother will
forget her child, then I know I'd do the same thing. But scripture
says, like as a father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth
them that fear him. He knoweth our frame. He remembers
that we are dust. Aren't you thankful? We have
a God that remembers. Has remembered His people everlasting. Never has He ever forgotten.
He's ordered all things after the counsel of His own will.
And He's brought them to this spot right here where they are.
And they're gonna leave this world with Him remembering them. Lord, remember me. Lord, have
mercy on me. for your namesake.