Let's take our Bibles and turn
with me to the book of Luke. Luke chapter 23. Luke 23. Our Lord is hanging on the cross. And the scripture says in Luke
23, and I'll just read verses 34 through 43, as an account
of what happened on that day. Our Lord praying says, Father,
forgive them, for they know not what they do. And they parted his raiment and
cast lots. And the people stood beholding. And the rulers also with them
derided him, saying, he saved others. Let him save himself. If he be Christ, the chosen of
God. And the soldiers also mocked
him, coming to him, offering him vinegar. and saying, if thou
be the king of the Jews, save thyself. And a superscription
also was written over him in letters of Greek and Latin and
Hebrews. This is the king of the Jews. One of the malefactors, which
were hanged, railed on him, 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 Jesus, Lord,
Remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom. And Jesus said
unto him, Verily I say unto thee today, Shalt thou be with me
in paradise. The Lord's hour had come. He will now be made sin. He will now bear the guilt of
his elect. He's going to die for his sheep. He's going to pay that which
God's elect owed because of their disobedience to God. He's going to honor his father
by his obedient sacrifice. And in these final few hours, doing that which he alone could
or would do, he's going to save one that he's everlastingly loved. There were two thieves on each
side of the Lord on the day of His crucifixion. Mark 15, 27
says one on His right hand and the other on His left. While all the people mocked the
Lord, they were walking by and wagging their heads and railing
and making fun of Him. Matthew 27 44 says concerning
the two thieves, that at first both of them joined in. Both of them were doing just
exactly what everybody that was making fun of him was doing.
Matthew 27.44 says, the thieves also which were crucified with
him cast the same in his teeth. Which means they were saying
the same thing. Both of them. But there was an
effectual prayer that was prayed by the Lord just before his conversation
with one of the thieves. That's where I started. 34 of Luke 23 says, Then said
Jesus, Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do. Now, according to Scripture,
and here again, as I've told you before, if I can't back up
what I'm saying with the Word of God, then you have no reason
to believe me. But if I can back up what I'm
saying with God's word, you have every reason to believe what
God has said because I am merely a voice. I'm just a mouthpiece. I'm a creature of the dust just
like you are. The scripture says that that
prayer, right there, was not for everybody. When He said, Father, forgive
them, He was not praying for everybody. The Scripture sets
forth in John 17, 9, He said, I pray not for the world, but
for them which Thou hast given Me, For they are thine. You say, well that was in John
17 when he prayed that. This is right here. God doesn't
change. I change not. Therefore, you
sons of Jacob are not consumed. The only reason God's elect are
not consumed is because the Lord don't change. He was praying
for his elect that were in that crowd. Some of them were. according to our scripture, we
know of one. I just want to, for a few minutes,
just look at what happened. Two thieves dug out of the same
pit of depravity. Two thieves. Both of them were
guilty. Both of them worthy of death. Both of them were getting ready
to die physically very soon, very soon. Those Roman guards
are going to come through, those soldiers are going to break the
legs of those two thieves. The only reason they didn't break
the Lord's legs is because he had already given up the ghost. He said, nobody takes my life
from me. I lay it down. He had the power
to give back his very spirit unto
the Father. He said, Father, into thy hands
I commend my spirit. Nobody took his life from him. These two thieves, though, are
going to have their legs broken in a few minutes. And they're
going to suffocate, both of them. But there was something very
different about these two thieves. But the difference was not owing
to the two thieves. One of them was an object of
God's mercy. And the only difference between
those two thieves was the grace of God. That's the only difference. Both of them were guilty rebels
against God. Both of them deserved, not only
physical death, but in themselves, both of them deserved eternal
death, in themselves. Verse 39, where I'll pick up
now. One of the malefactors, which were hanged, railed on
him, saying, If thou be Christ, Now he had listened to what everybody
was saying. That's what he said. Verse 35, the people stood beholding
the rulers also with them derided him saying he saved others let
him save himself if he be Christ the chosen of God. And this malefactor
on one side said if you be Christ save thyself and us. There's three things, very quickly,
I'd like to say about that statement. Number one, he did not believe
that this was the Christ. If, if you are who you say you
are, the scripture says in John 8 24, for if you believe not
that I am And you look up that scripture right there, he is
in italics. It wasn't in the original. If
you believe not that I am God, if you believe not that I am
God in the flesh, you shall die in your sins. True faith believes that God
has come into this world, true faith believes that God, it does
believe that God has come into this world to save sinners, but
true faith believes that God has come into this world to save
me. True faith believes that I need
to be saved because I cannot save myself. I cannot First Timothy
1.15, this is a faithful saying. This is a saying from God. This
is a faithful saying. And worthy of all acceptation
that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners of whom
I'm chief. I'm the chief of sinners. You
say, yeah, you don't know what I've done. I don't need to know what you've
done. You don't realize the depth of my depravity. My friend, you
don't know the depth of your own depravity. I'm a sinner, and you're a sinner. But by the grace of God, God
will teach you that. If thou be the Christ, number
one, he didn't believe that the Lord was God. Number two, he
said, save thyself. That thief saw no need of a substitute. If you be the Christ, save yourself. He was blind to the necessity
of our Lord's death to atone for the sin of His people, to
pay the debt, to cover it over, to put it away. If you be the
Christ, save yourself. And then he said, and us. He had no regard for justice,
no regard for God's law, no regard for God Almighty to be just in
punishing sin. Listen, if the Lord Jesus Christ
did not die at Calvary, Now, you remember the Apostle Paul
says, I am crucified with Christ. When Almighty God chose us, his
people, in Christ, he put us in him. Now, I've told you before,
we're way over our heads in understanding this. But where God Almighty
says that he put his people, that's where they are. Before
the foundation of the world, God Almighty chose a people out
of every nation, and kindred, and tribe, and tongue, and He
put them in Christ. And that's where they've always
been. They've always been there. This is an everlasting covenant.
You and I, we don't enter into eternity because we just don't
have the capability of going back like that. We just, we can't
enter into that. I can't enter in. The scriptures
talk about hell. That it never, never ends, never
ends. I can't enter into that. I don't
understand that. But the scripture says that before
the foundation of the world put us there, And it was in Him that
the Lord Jesus Christ went to the cross. And when Almighty
God judged Him for the sake of His elect, we died with Him under
the judgment of God in a substitute, just like was pictured. When Noah and his wife, and there's
three sons, there are wives and those animals. When that judgment
fell on this earth, everybody in the boat, were they under
that judgment? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. But they were in the ark. And
they were preserved in the ark. When Christ died at Calvary,
we were in the ark. And the judgment of God fell
on Him because of us and we were preserved. If he didn't die at Calvary and
suffer the judgment of God in our place, then it's still coming. Because the soul that sins is
going to die. We were crucified in Him. If thou be the Christ,
Save thyself and us. Oh, but that other thief, it
was quite a different story. He didn't have anything to glory
in of himself. Neither do you and neither do
I. We have nothing to glory in of ourself. He was guilty I'm guilty, you're
guilty. But something marvelously divine
happened. Almighty God had wrought a work
of grace in his heart. You say, how do you know? Because
out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaketh. This thief, who just a few moments
before had been railing on the Lord just like everybody else, had a change in his speech. A heart had been wrought, a new
heart had been imparted. And the day of God's power, this
thief was made willing to do something and he willingly did
it. Because God had given him a new heart that he didn't have
before. He hated the Lord Jesus Christ
just like the other thief did. He derailed on him, mocked him,
made fun of him. That thief that had been speaking
with such disrespect, now said in verse 40 and 41, after he
heard that first malefactor speak, the other answering rebuked him. Saying, does not thou fear God? Do you have no respect for God? He knew who was hanging on that
cross beside Him. Does 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. I want you to consider, just
a second, listen to the boldness. of that dying thief. Here he was in his confession
of Christ. The scriptures, and I know that
there were some. His disciples were there because
I know they fled. I know there were some that knew
him. But here's a thief hanging on the cross. And by the grace
of God took sides with God against himself and against everybody
else. Didn't even consider the possibility. Well, maybe if I go along with
these priests and all these guys, maybe if I join in with them,
maybe they'll have a little mercy on me. No. He looked at that other thief
and he said, don't you have any respect? We're getting just exactly what
we deserve. This wand is hanging right here. This is God's Lamb. This is God's
Christ. This man is innocent. This is
the spotless Lamb of God. This is the one redeeming God's
people. I don't know what all this man
had heard, but I know that our Lord had been speaking from the
cross. And those things that he heard,
faith cometh by hearing, hearing by the Word of God. And the Spirit
of God, who was pleased to move upon this sinner, blessing Almighty
God, blessing the prayer of the Lord Jesus Christ. forgive them. And here's one of them. The Lord was pleased to pass
by many that day. But God who has the right to
do as he will in the army of heaven among the inhabitants
of the earth was pleased to show mercy to this one dying thief. That thief Looked at that other
one, rebuked him. He said, don't you fear God?
Don't you have any respect? We're getting just exactly what
we deserve. And but for the grace of God,
we're going to wake up in hell in just a few minutes. We're
going to stand before God just a few minutes. And he turned his attention from
that other thief. And he turned that attention
to the Lord. And as a helpless sinner, he wasn't going to be able to
walk down an aisle. He wasn't going to be able to
be baptized He wasn't going to partake of the Lord's table. He had one hope. He had one hope. He had one hope. And the scripture says, verse
42, he said unto Jesus, Remember me when thou comest
into thy kingdom. I'm getting ready to die. Lord, 1 Corinthians 12 says,
no man can call him Lord. A new heart can call him Lord,
but by the Spirit of God. The Spirit of God had wrought
a work in this man's heart. Because I know for a fact, because
of the Lord's answer, I know, I know God done something to
this man. Lord, and if there's ever been
a sweeter title uttered from the lips of a needy sinner, it
was right here. Here was one in himself that
deserved to die. He was a thief. But you know
that theft in the Old Testament was not deserving of death. Retribution
was. And to restore, you know, fourfold,
you give back. He'd done something else. What
all had he done? I don't know. But whatever he'd
done, he admitted, we're getting just exactly what we deserve. How much have you done? How much
have I done? Whatever it is, we deserve it in ourselves to
die. Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom. I think about that song. I love
this song. While on others thou art calling, Do not pass me by. Lord, if you
pass me by, I have no hope. I have no hope. Because I'm going
to tell you something. According to the scriptures,
I'm not going to come unless the Father draws me. No man,
no man, the Lord said, cometh unto me, except my Father, which
hath sent me, draw him. That thief, he did not plead
any merit. We read of that Pharisee. There's two men went up to pray.
One was a publican, one was a Pharisee. The Pharisee stood up. I fast. I tithe. I'm not like this publican over
here. Many will be, the scripture says
in Matthew 7, many in that day will say, Lord, we prophesied
in your name. We cast out devil in your name.
We've done many mighty works in your name. And he'll say,
I never knew you. You try to plead your merit before
God, and I'm telling you, you listen to me. I've done this,
I've done that. You plead your merit before God
and God's going to put you in hell. He didn't have any merit. Let
me tell you what he had. He had nothing but God's word
and God's mercy to appeal to. And God had given him a heart
to do that. If you feel you've done something
to merit Him being merciful to you, if you think you've done
something to merit Him being merciful, He's not been. Guilty thief. Oh, but by grace, He was made
to know something of His need of Christ. And He called upon
Him. He called upon Him. Somebody
says, how do you do that? When God calls you, you'll call. If God calls you, you'll come. Him that cometh to me, I will
in no wise cast out. And I'm telling you, walking
down this aisle is not coming to Christ. That's walking down
an aisle. A man, a woman comes to Christ
in their heart God Almighty is going to teach them. They'll all be taught of God.
That's what the Lord said. They'll be taught of God. This is who God Almighty came
to save. Not those who can save themselves.
God saves sinners. God saves those that He's pleased
to draw to Himself and gives them a heart that knows their
need of Him. And the word of assurance flowed
from the heart of our Lord, from His lips, word of comfort and
assurance, when that thief said, Lord, remember me when Thou comest. into thy kingdom. And Jesus said
unto him, verily, truly, I say unto thee, today, today, shalt
thou be with me in paradise. You know, with words like that
in closing, there's not a believer in this room that couldn't say,
oh, blessed day. Today's the day. Today's the
day. And that thief, made by the grace
of God, to know something of himself and who he was talking
to. When the Lord left this world,
when the Lord commended his spirit into the hands of the Father,
When that thief right there took his last breath, let me tell
you where he was. According to the word of the
Lord, that word that shall not fail. You know where that thief
was? He was in the bosom of Abraham with the Lord. He said today,
you're going to be with me. Wherever he was, that's where
that thief was going to be. And by the grace of God, God
showed mercy. to one in himself, didn't deserve
it, by grace are you saved. Through
faith, God gives you the faith to believe it. That not of yourself,
it's the gift of God. All right, let's take a break.