Luke 24, if you will. Did you
notice I got ice water this morning? I'm almost afraid to take a drink
of it. What have you put in? Oh, that's good. When David was talking this morning
about we are glad, over in John it says, you know, the
Lord Jesus Christ, when He first appeared to Mary Magdalene, and
then the same evening He appeared amongst His disciples while they
were in the house for fear of the Jews. And He showed them
His hands and His feet and said, It is I, my spirit. And then
it says, and then were the disciples glad. And Scott preached that
down at our place. One of the first messages he
ever preached at our place, well over 30 years ago. 33, 34 years ago, 35 maybe. And I remember that now, and
two or three people still mention that. That's why Scott said,
what would make you glad? What would make you glad? And
I tell you, I was made glad today. I've been made glad. Alright, let's start looking
here in verse 39, and read down through verse 43, and hopefully
the Lord will enable me to say a few things about this. And one of the malefactors which
were hanged railed on him, on the Lord Jesus, saying, If thou
be Christ, save thyself and us. But the other answering rebuked
him, saying, Dost not thou 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 unto the Lord Jesus,
Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom. And Jesus saith
unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Today shalt thou be
with me in paradise. I got, there's three crosses
here, and they stand out very, very clearly. We have three men
on these three crosses. We have a cross of rebellion. That's one of the things. A cross
of repentance, the other thief. And a cross of redemption, our
Lord Jesus Christ giving Himself on that cross. And on these three
crosses, you have in these men hanging on this cross, one man
dying for sin, our Lord Jesus Christ. One man dying to his
sin, that one thief. that called on the Lord Jesus,
and one man dying any sin to be forever lost. And on these
three crosses, you have one man giving life, giving life, one
man losing his life, and one man receiving life. And so here we see, and just
plainly see, very clearly see, at looking at this thief on the
cross that our Lord Jesus Christ saved in his dying day, a beautiful
picture of the sovereign free grace of God and the salvation
of one of his elect even in his dying hour. And that's the way
it is. My father-in-law was 75 years
old when God saved him. So that doesn't, you know, age
has nothing to do with it. It's when the Lord's pleased
to open a man's heart and save him by His grace. It's when God
means to manifest Himself to one of His. But I tell you what, I wouldn't
want to wait until I was hanging on a cross dying. I wouldn't
want to wait that long. I'd want to know the Lord Jesus
Christ before I got that far ago. I really would. And this dying peace, last words,
and last moments of life on earth, he gave a good, good evidence
of his conversion to the Lord Jesus Christ. In fact, there's
few dying people left behind such a good evidence of being
saved by the grace of God as this dying thief. Ain't you thankful
that God saves by grace? Saves by grace. And I have several
things about this saved thief that I think we ought to look
at, and hopefully God will bless us and we will see some things
about it. The first thing that we see about this man being saved
by the grace of God is that he had a great concern for his other
thief's wickedness in reviling our Lord Jesus Christ. Look what
he said here in verse 39. One of the malefactors which
were hanged railed on the Lord Jesus Christ. Now you could rail
on him. And he says this, if thou art
the Christ, save yourself and us. If you're really the Christ,
he's asking for a sign. If you're who you say you are,
if you've got the power you claim to have, and you say that you're
the Christ and everybody around here says that you are, why don't
you save yourself and save us with you? Save us from this pain
that we're in, the suffering that we're in. And anybody, I'm
going to tell you something, if you want to be saved just
from trouble, you'll never be saved. If you want to be saved
when you're in a storm, just as quick as the storm's over,
you'll be, forget about God, just that quick. And that's what
this fellow wanted. He wanted to be saved while he
was in trouble. God, Christ, came to save men
from their sins. People keep preaching about men
want to be saved from hell. Men must be saved from sin. It's not hell that you got to
worry about. It's your sin that God's going
to judge you for. It's hell, beloved, that's the
result of sin. It's Christ came not to save
men from hell, but from sin. And that's the issue, sin, and
who can deal with that sin. And this man, he reviled the
Lord Jesus Christ, and look what this other thief said. He said,
don't you? He rebuked him. Now, you imagine
this. Here's three men on a cross,
and they're carrying on a conversation. They're carrying on a conversation.
I'm going to tell you something. Most people, you know, they think
they're way up on these crosses. There's only about a foot, no
more than 18 inches off the ground. And these fellows hanging on
these crosses, and they're talking back and forth to one another.
And our Lord Jesus had a conversation with five people at the cross.
He looked down and talked to his mother, looked down and talked
to John, looked down and talked to those other three Marys. He
turned on the conversation, and that just shows you what a great,
glorious Savior we have. What might, what power, what
control. What strength, what grace, what
glory is revealed in our Lord Jesus Christ? Oh, He is crucified
in weakness. Have you ever seen such power
manifested on the cross in Him carrying on conversations? And this one thief rebuked Him.
He rebuked Him, saying, Don't you fear God? You and I are in
the same condemnation. Don't you fear God? Oh, listen,
and that's the thing about it. Does a man fear God? They said one of the marks of
this generation of everybody is that there's no fear of God
before their eyes. No fear of God. No fear of God. Use God's name in vain. Use it
as a byword. And yet the scripture said, Lord,
if thou shouldest mark iniquities. If God began to come around and
mark our iniquities, mark what we are, what we've done, and
what we've thought in this service this morning, how we've been
today, Lord, if thou shouldest mark iniquities, who should be
able to stand? Well, I've got news for you.
He marked them all, and marked them all gold, because that's forgiveness with
thee. that thou mayest be feared." The fear of God is the beginning
of wisdom. Ecclesiastes 3.14 says this,
"...whatsoever the Lord doeth, no man can add to it, or no man
can take away from it." Why does He do this? "...that men may
fear the Lord." Fear the Lord. And I tell you what, back when I was a young man,
Not old now, but back when I was younger, I was a miserable creature. I
was a miserable creature. I didn't know whether I wanted
to live or whether I wanted to die. I even poured a 45 to my head
one time when I was in Vietnam. I said, man, this ain't no good
here. But you know what kept me from doing that? I did not
want to be on that in the darkness going out there. God had mercy
on me and put such fear in my heart. And now, beloved, I've got some
wisdom with that fear. I've got sense enough to know
what it is to fear God. I've got sense enough to know
that God is to be reverenced, to be honored, to be glorified,
to be worshiped, to be adored, to be bowed to, to be honored. to never attribute anything wrong
with anything He says or does. Everything He does is right,
just, good and holy. And oh, when it seems like He's
even against us, we just reach out, kiss that hand of Providence
and say, bless His holy name. Ain't that right? And oh, listen,
I'll tell you what, He rebuked him. And I'll tell you something
else this man did to show his salvation is by grace. He acknowledged
his own sin. Look what he says here. In verse
41, we're in the same condemnation, and we indeed justly, we indeed
justly, for we receive the due rewards of our deeds. We're just
getting what's coming to us. Huh? He acknowledged his own
sin. Oh, listen. We receive the just
rewards of our deeds. You know, you, we preached it
last night. When Isaiah saw the Lord, also
saw the Lord. I lifted up. That's when he cried,
Woe is me. And when this man saw the Lord
Jesus Christ, and looking at the Lord Jesus Christ, he saw
his own sin, he saw that I'm here because I deserve to be
here. If there's anything done for
me, somebody else got to do it. I'm here because what I did,
not what somebody else did. I'm not here because somebody
mistreated me. I'm not here and acting this
way because something bad. He said, I'm here because I did
what I did. Look in Isaiah 64 with me for
a moment. You know, this is, this is, this
is, This is what men, when we see, here's the thing,
man don't see how bad he is and then start seeking the Lord.
A man won't see how bad he is until he's seen the Lord. It's
seeing the Lord is what makes you understand what you are.
And that's why we get worse as we get older. because we get
a greater vision of his glory, more understand something about
his grace, understand something about how far he reached down
to save us, and how far he reaches down to keep us. Do you understand
what it is to be kept day by day by day by day by day in the
way we are? That he actually keeps us? Oh, what mercy! That the Lord
Jesus Christ not only saves us, but He keeps us. Keeps us safe. Keeps us believing. Keeps us
seeking. Keeps us crying. Keeps us reaching
out to Him. And oh, this is why. Look what
He said in Isaiah 64, 6. This is what this man is saying.
But we all are as an unclean thing. And all of our righteousnesses,
that's the best we do, all of our righteousnesses are as a
filthy rag, and we all do fade just like a leaf, and our iniquities,
like wind, have taken us away." Oh, the best, the best that a
man does, and that's what this man's saying here. He said, I'm
here justly. I'm here because this is what's
coming to me. And I'll tell you something,
beloved, we're going to face God for our own sin, not Adam's. We're going to face God for not
our own sin, not our father's sins, not our wives' sins, not
our children's sins. We're going to face Him for ourselves,
for what we are and what we've done. And that's why Daniel said,
when I saw the Lord, my crumbliness in me turned into corruption. David said, It's against you
and you only that I sinned and done this evil in thy sight. I'll tell you one thing. I've
said this lots of times. If you all really know what I
was like, none of you would ever let me in your house. I wouldn't
ever get to eat at your dinner table. I wouldn't have that fellow
around me for nothing. If you all know what I was really
like inside. And that's why I need the Lord Jesus. Oh, how I need
Him. Oh, I've got to have Him. Just
got to. Got to. And let me tell you something
else about this thief and show you salvations by grace. Look
what he said in verse 41. He made an open confession of
the innocence of our Lord Jesus Christ. He said in verse 41,
And we indeed justly for we receive the due rewards of our deeds
of what we've done. But this man, hath done nothing
amiss." Huh? This man ain't done anything.
This man is sinless. This man's here. He ain't done... Me and you are here because we
deserve to be here. But this man's done nothing to
be here. Done nothing to be here. Huh? And you know back over here,
look with me in verse 14, 15 of Luke 23. Did I say 24 when
I opened up the Scripture? Did I? Well, I'm at 23. Did y'all
follow me? Did y'all find me? Unbelievable. That boy threw me off. Oh, boy. I told you. I told you. I'm to pity me more than blame
me. But look what it said here in
verse 14 and 15 of Luke 23. Verse 14, said unto them, Pilate
said to the Rusyns, you've brought this man unto me as one that
perverteth the people. And behold, I, having examined
him before you, have found no fault in this man, touching those
things that you accuse him of." You accuse him of a thing, and
what you're saying is not true. It's not so. And then look what,
"'No, nor ye inherit. For I sent him to you, and, lo,
nothing worthy of death is done in him.'" Nothing worthy of death. I find no fault in him. And he
washed his hands of the Lord Jesus Christ. Instead, he was
going to wash his hands, and he thought that he'd be done
with our Lord Jesus Christ. But, beloved, as Old Martin said
one time in a message I heard him, he's still running around
in hell trying to wash his hands. Still trying to wash his hands.
And I'll tell you something, beloved. And his wife came to
him and said, have nothing to do with this just man. Oh, I've
suffered in a dream because of him. And Judas said, I've betrayed
innocent blood. I've betrayed innocent blood.
And now they're all suffering, all these people that should
have let him go. You and I know, wise heir, but
this, we're looking at what man did. They're all suffering. Now they're just condemnation
of God Almighty. But this thief that's beside
our Lord Jesus Christ, look into him and him alone. Oh, our Lord
Jesus had been saved. Well, God's not like us. No,
He's not. No, He's not. And this man said
this. He looked at our Lord Jesus Christ and he says this man had
done nothing amiss. And let me show you something
else about this back over here in verse 42. This man, God, he
had faith in the Lord Jesus power and will to save him. And he
turned to the crucified Savior and suffering and the first thing
out of his mouth was says, Lord. Like you said just a minute ago,
Lord. Lord. Remember me when thou comest
into your kingdom. Now, let me tell you something.
When this man turned around, looked at the Lord Jesus Christ.
You know what he is looking at? He was looking at a man nailed
to a tree, and this man was bloody all over. His visage was marred
more than the sons of men. You could see his ribs where
they had beat him. His ribs showed. His back up
against that cross, blood running down that cross, blood all around
his sides, blood pouring out of his hands. They plucked the
beard off of his face. He had bruises also where them
soldiers would slap him and spit in his face. And they wouldn't
even allow him to wipe the spit off of his face. And then on
top of that, he had a crown of thorns with thorns about that
long that they wrapped around and put on his head and squashed
it down on his head and it went down into that skin that's so
down into the skin on his head. Now you tell me, when he's looking
at a man who looks like that, that's what he's looking at.
He's not looking at a little old blond-headed boy hanging
up there with just a... He's hanging there nude! And he's looking at this man,
and you know what he says to him? Lord, How did he know he's the Lord?
The same way I know he's the Lord. How did he know he's the
Lord? Who made him understand that? Who made him see that?
Who made him grasp that? Who did that? Oh, explain how
he knew the Lord but apart from Revelation. Simon Peter said,
oh, he asked his disciples, who do men say I, the son of man,
am? Oh, you're You're Jeremiah because you're so, you cry all
the time and you're so sorrowful and cradled with grief. You're
like Jeremiah the weeping prophet. And others say you're like Elijah
because you've got such power. For one of the prophets, he said,
but who do you say I am? Why, thou art the Christ, the
Son of the living God. He said, O Simon Bar-Jonas, How
blessed you are. Flesh and blood didn't make you
understand that. But my Father, which is in heaven. Oh, beloved, I tell you, our
Lord Jesus Christ, He says this. He says, nobody knows the Father
but the Son. Nobody knows the Son but the
Father. And He to Whomsoever He revealed Him. And He says
in the next words is this, Come unto Me. Since I'm the only one
that can make you know anything, you come to me. I'm the only
one that's got the power. I'm the only one that's got the
right. I'm the only one that's got the will. I'm the only one
that can do, make you understand who the Father is. And the Father's
the only one that can make you know who I am. So you come to
me. Therefore, come unto me. Oh,
you explain revelation apart from sovereign grace. How'd this
happen apart from sovereign grace? Free grace. I love the word free
grace. And why I love the word free
grace is that means there's no attachments to it. If you get
it, it's free. Look with me over here in Luke
22. Excuse me, not Luke 22, Luke
2. You know, I do that. I don't
know how I do things like that. Well, I do. I do know how to
do things like this. Luke 2. Look what it says here
down in verse 25. And behold, there was a man in
Jerusalem whose name was Simeon, and the same man was just. How did he get just? The same
way I got just, looking to the Lord. and devout, waiting for
the consolation of Israel, that one who had come and consoled
his blessed people. And the Holy Ghost was upon him.
Now watch this. And it was revealed unto him
by the Holy Ghost that he should not see death before he had seen
the Lord's Christ. And he came by the Spirit, led
by the Holy Spirit, the same one who told him that he wasn't
going to die before he had seen the Lord Jesus Christ. And when
the parents brought in the child, Jesus, to do for him after the
custom of the law, then he took him up in his arms and blessed
God and said, Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace
according to your word. Now watch this. For mine eyes
have seen thy salvation. Oh, my. You know how many babies
was in there that time, David? And this man with the Holy Ghost
said, that's the one right there. He picked him up and looked in
an eight-day-old baby's eyes. They offered him to the Lord.
And firstborn son looked at that little eight-day-old baby and
said, Lord, I see your salvation. That shows you that salvation
is in a person. I showed you this time and he
looked at an 8-day-old baby. I've looked at a lot of 8-day-old
babies. I've looked at newborn babies. I've looked at 2-year-old
babies, 3-year-old babies, and 60-year-old babies. But he held
that baby and says, Lord, I'm ready to go. My eyes, my eyes
have seen your salvation. That's what this thief is saying.
My eyes, my eyes see the Lord. My heart sees the Lord. My soul
does. It was revealed to Him by the
Holy Ghost. And so you understand who He's
looking at when He sees the Lord Jesus Christ. He's looking at
a broken body, bleeding Lord. And ah, Lord, oh Lord. And then the next thing He did,
and this shows you the salvations by grace. Next thing He did is
He prayed. And you know what he cried? He
says, Lord, remember me. He cried, remember me. Nine words
is all he said. Lord, remember me when you come
in your kingdom. Nine words is all he said. Let
me give you five things about this prayer. First thing about
his prayer, it was short. Don't have to use a lot of words. How many times have you prayed
in your heart and all you said was, Lord, have mercy? How many
times have you said, Oh, Lord, pity them. Oh, Lord, do something
for them. Just a few words. And it comes
right out of your heart. And then, look, it was short. Bartimaeus, he used seven words
and got the Lord Jesus Christ to stop and save him. He just used seven words. Seven
words. Got the Lord Jesus Christ to
stop and do something for him. And look, the second thing about
his prayer was, that old word is short, but it was humble.
It was humble. He had already admitted that
he was there because of what he did. But he said, Lord, remember
me. Just remember me. Remember me. What could he do? And I'll tell you something else
about this here. This concerned him. This concerned him. I'm praying for my soul, for
my sin, for my condition, for the condition I'm in. And this
is the only person that can do anything for me, this one hanging
here beside me. He's the Lord. He's Jehovah. He's God hanging right there.
That's what he's saying. And not only did it concern himself,
but he prayed for spiritual blessings only. He only asked for spiritual
blessings. He said, Lord, I want to be remembered
when you come into your kingdom. That other thief said, Oh, Lord,
if you're the Christ, well, save thyself and save us with you. And I'll tell you something else.
The fifth thing about it was it was a powerful prayer. It
had come from his heart. And he said, Lord, remember me
when you come into your kingdom. And I'll tell you, here's the
thing, the last thing he did on this earth, the last thing
he did on this earth was he begged to be remembered by our Lord. Are there any better words, last
words from a sinner? You know, there are believers that don't
even know, that's been believers for years, And then they lose
their minds. They get Alzheimer's. They have
strokes and they can't remember anything. Because they can't
remember the Lord, does that mean the Lord's not going to
remember them? Ain't you grateful it's that way? There's men and women in nursing
homes that's faithful to hear the Gospel. Supported their work
for years and years, and then they get old. And somebody has to take care
of them. And they go sit in a nursing home. They don't know their own
children. Don't remember their wives. Do you reckon the Lord don't
remember them? I may get to the place that I
don't know anything. But I know one thing. The Lord
will know me. And I'll show you that. Look at Malachi. Look at
Malachi chapter 3. That last book of the Old Testament. Oh my. What better words, last
words from a sinner. Lord remember me. People get sick when they're
dying as believers and they go into a coma. And they can't pray. They can't pray. They can't hear a voice. They
can't see anything. And yet the Lord remembers them. Look here in verse 16 or 17 of Malachi 3. Then they that feared the Lord
Oh, we're talking about that fear of God a minute ago. Then
they that fear the Lord. You know what they do? They speak
often one to another. They talk about Christ, talk
about grace, talk about love, talk about forgiveness, justification.
And the Lord listens to what they have to say. He listens
to them. And he heard everything they said, and what did he do?
A book of remembrance was written before him. For who? Them that
feared the Lord. Doest thou not fear God, seeing
Him in the just condemnation? And listen to this, in that thought
upon His name, and then look what God says about them, and
they shall be mine. Saith the Lord of hosts, listen
to this, that day when I make up my jewels, and in the margins
His special treasure, I will spare them as a man spares his
own son. Oh my. Now back over here in
our text. What? What? Here's evidence without
a shadow of a doubt. The salvation is by grace apart
from works, apart from anything a man could do. What could this
thief do? He's nailed hand and foot to
the tree. He could literally do nothing
for his own soul. He couldn't. He couldn't. He
couldn't be baptized. He couldn't join a visible church,
never did. He never took the Lord's Supper,
bread or wine, never walked any preacher's church's aisles, never
gave the tithe of anything that he had. No soul winner was involved
here, no repeat after me. What did he do? He looked along
to the Lord Jesus Christ and said, Lord, remember me when
you come into your kingdom. This man could do nothing and
never done anything that we as believers do. And yet, listen to what happens. And I'll
tell you something, the way of God saves a sinner is exactly
always the same. Jesus Christ the same today,
yesterday, and forever. And I tell you, He lives right
now who saved that dying thief. So there's hope for the worst
of sinners. Worst of sinners. No one, absolutely
no one, ever received greater assurance that his sins were
forgiven than this dying thief. Look what our Lord Jesus Christ
said unto him in verse 43. This is what Christ said to him
now. And our Lord said unto him, Truly
I say unto thee, Verily I say unto thee. Now listen to this.
Today, today, shalt thou be, and this is the key, with me
in paradise. Today. Our Lord had just shed
his blood and then he died. And the first soul to enter glory
after the shedding of the blood was the man hanging beside Him
on the cross. This tells us this, that the minute you die, your
spirit goes to be with the Lord Jesus that quick. And I tell you, do you know what
heaven's going to be? It's going to be to be with Him. You know,
every one of us has got somebody we love that's done gone to glory.
I mean somebody we really love. And it's not in my heart or in
my mind to go see any of them. I never think about that. Oh,
I just can't wait to get up there and see so-and-so. I just can't
wait to get up there and see this one or see that one. No,
the only thing I want to see when I get there is the Lord
Jesus Christ. That's the only person I want
to see. Now, ain't that right? He says, today thou shalt be
with me. Be with me. This tells us that
a moment a believer dies, his soul is in absolute perfect joy
and happiness. No waiting period, no delay,
no soul sleep, no purgatory. And J.C. Ryle said this, two
thieves were on that cross that day. One was saved that none
should despair, but only one that none should presume. Is there anybody here that feels
in their heart and their soul that if God dealt with me according
to what I'd done, there'd be no hope for me? And you think in your heart,
oh Lord, Lord, Lord, would you remember me? Would you remember
me? Oh, our Father, Blessed, blessed
Savior, our Redeemer, thank You for this day. Thank You for what
we heard earlier this morning through David. Oh, we heard Your
voice, and we were glad. Thank You for this body of believers,
these saints who come out to hear the Gospel this morning.
Oh, what a work of grace in a man's heart that he wants to come and
hear a sinner tell another sinner about the Lord Jesus Christ.
Oh God, where hearts are filled with love and gladness and joy
and peace and overwhelmed with your blessed grace, just overwhelmed
with it. And oh Father, may this gospel
that has been preached today and preached here week after
week, may it run well. May it open hearts and open understandings. and bring sinners, bring His
sheep to where they trust the Lord Jesus Christ in Him alone.
Thank you for this opportunity, this blessed, blessed time, this
privilege to worship you. In Christ's name, Amen.