Over in the twenty-third chapter
of the book of Luke, beginning there at verse thirty-nine, and one of the malefactors, which
my center column reference says is a bad man, one of the bad
men, 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." That is, we just get
what we've got coming. But this man," certainly referring
to the Lord Jesus, but this man hath done nothing amiss and done
anything wrong. And he said unto Jesus, this
thief that's still on the top here, 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." Now, I'm kind of convinced by
what I see and what I hear that the whole concept of present-day
evangelism is absolutely wrong. I'm going to try to give you
a few reasons why I believe this is wrong. Number one, the concept of present-day
evangelism among the churches, among the evangelists on the
television and radio, and in the newspapers. Their evangelism
is based on the fact that man is about to die, which is true. Death is near for everybody.
And after death, they say, and this is a truth in a sense, that
after death there's a heaven to gain and a hell to shun. And if a man doesn't want to
go to hell, he's going to have to find a way somehow to make
peace with God and thereby gain an entrance into heaven or into
the wonderful paradise called Heaven. Now some say the way to attain
this coveted and esteemed prize is to come to the front of the
place of worship and say that you believe in God
and accept Jesus Christ as your personal Savior. Others in other
circles say that you must come to the altar and look for an
experience, an emotional upheaval. Others say the way to attain
this coveted prize is to join the church and pay your expected
dues. And then there's others say that
you must reform your life and live by certain principles set
forth by some particular organization in which you desire to become
identified with. They say the ultimate goal is
to stay out of hell and go to heaven when you die. But I think
that the Bible has this to say. I think this is the underlying
theme and factor, the underlying foundation truth. The sum and substance of the
Old Testament as well as the New Testament says that God has
turned this world over to the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, our Lord
Jesus Christ purchased the crown rights of this world when he
died on Calvary's tree. The Scriptures say that he died
that he might be Lord of the dead and the living as well. The Scriptures say that God hath
highly exalted him and given him a name above every name and
that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow and every tongue
should confess that He is the Lord Jesus Christ. As a matter
of fact, the Bible, the Word of God, the truth of the living
God, commands men to bow to the claims of the Lord Jesus Christ
and receive Him as Lord. There is nothing said about receiving
Jesus Christ as your personal Savior. The only kind of Savior
He can be is a personal Savior. The Bible says to bow down and
receive Him as your Lord. The Bible says that we are to bow
to the claims of the Lord Jesus Christ and receive Him as Lord.
and believe that God has raised Him from the dead and exalted
Him. Now, He is my Lord if I have
an interest in His atonement. If I have an interest in His
grace, if I have an interest in His mercy, He is my Lord. Now, if I don't have an interest
in the atonement or His grace or His mercy, He still is my
Lord And I'm going to have to honor His justice someday. Now
these are the things that the Bible says about evangelism. The sum and substance of what
I've tried to say is this, that the Bible says that we are
to bow to the claims of the Lord Jesus Christ and receive Him
as our Lord and believe in our hearts that God hath raised him
from the dead. And if I acquire an interest
in the Lord Jesus Christ, if I acquire an interest in Him
and what He done and who He is, an interest in His mercy and
an interest in His grace, it says that I, a poor sinner, shall
be a trophy of His divine grace. But this present-day evangelism
that you hear has to do with the raising of a man's
hand. You raise your hand or you come forward and you say
yes to some questions that have been proposed to you. Or sometimes
you're asked to pray and acknowledge unto God that you're a sinner.
And sometimes you're asked, do you believe that Jesus Christ
is the Son of God? Now, saving faith does not involve a question or a yes answer to
a particular question. the saving faith of the Bible,
which has to do with repentance and faith, which are inseparably
connected together somehow, and are gifts of God, involves a
lifetime, and it has to do with the entire lifestyle of a man. That is, it becomes This salvation
that the Bible is speaking of becomes the occupation of the
individual that receives it. Jesus Christ becomes his chief
joy and his chief pleasure, and his lifestyle gives so much evidence of what's
happened to him that the Lord Jesus Christ completely occupies
the individual. He occupies him from morning
till night. He occupies him in all of his
down settings and his uprisings. This saving faith involves Involves
a whole lifetime. That's what I'm trying to say.
Involves a whole lifetime. I think that's what our Lord
meant when He said, He that endureth to the end, the same shall be
saved. It involves a total and absolute
commitment to a person, the Lord Jesus Christ, and His cause,
and His claims, and one becomes Unreservedly, given over to Him. It says, if any man would be
My disciple, if any man would be a learner of Me, if any man
would be a Christian, if any man would be saved, let him come
after Me. Let him come to Me, let him come
after Me. Let him take up his cross and
follow Me. Let him hate his father and his
mother, his brother, his sister, yea, even his own life. And if
he is not willing to do that, He can't be my disciple, which
is saying that it involves a whole lifetime, not just a single act
that we might have become involved in twenty years ago, or ten years
ago, or five years ago when the preacher said, Do you believe
in Jesus? And we said, Yes, I believe in Jesus, therefore I'm saved. No, that's not it. That's where
these fellows is wrong. It's a lifestyle. It's being occupied. It's being occupied with the
author of your salvation, the object of your salvation, the
purpose of your salvation, and the glory of your salvation.
is to become occupied and consumed body, soul, mind, and spirit
with this person. That's what salvation is. That's
what it means to be saved. Answering a few questions, that
hasn't got anything to do with it. I don't know anywhere in
the Bible that the preachers preached for a decision. They
didn't preach for decisions. I heard a fellow say this morning
on the television there, I forget now who it was, but had it on
earlier this morning and was watching this evangelist, and
he said that he cited reference to another fellow, and he said
during that fellow's lifetime that he'd won 750,000 souls to
Christ. That is, he had gotten 750,000
decisions. The Apostle Paul wasn't looking
for decisions. He wasn't looking. Nowhere in
the Scriptures does it indicate that he was trying to get a decision
out of somebody. He preached who the Lord Jesus
Christ was, what He did, who He did it for, where He is, and
what He's doing right now. That's what he preached. And the Bible says that God commands
all men everywhere to do what? To repent! These things are what's involved
in New Testament evangelism? Well, you say, well, what's that
got to do with the Scriptures that you read here in Luke chapter
23? Well, it's got a whole lot to
do with it, because in this three or four verses that I read to
you, it tells us about a fellow that had, I suppose, more assurance and
better assurance, well, let's say more assurance of the fact
that his sins were forgiven and that he was a saved man than
any man that ever lived. This fellow right here. Let's
look at that for just a little bit. Now, I want to talk to you
about saved by the grace of God through the Lord Jesus Christ.
Saved, that's the only way a man is going to be saved, by the
grace of God. What do you mean by the grace
of God? I mean that God didn't have to save you. That's what
I mean. If God done anything for you, it's by the grace of
God. He wasn't obligated to do it. That's what it means when
we say, by the grace of God. By the grace of God, God chose
certain people before time ever was. He didn't have to do it.
He didn't have to do it. He wasn't obligated to do it.
Every member of the human race forfeited his right to obligate God in the Garden
of Eden. He forfeited that right. And
so God is not obligated to do anything for anybody except to
give them what they got coming. And what we all have got coming
is to die in our sins and be abandoned by God in a devil's
hell for eternity. That's what we've got coming. Now, if we get anything on this
side of hell, it's by the grace of God. God didn't have to do
it. It's by grace. Whatever we get on this side
of hell, it's the grace of God. It's the grace of God that you're
not in hell this morning and I'm not. It's the grace of God.
If we got what was coming to us, that's where we'd be. Saved by the grace of God through
the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, this dying thief, his time
was very short for giving proof of his conversion. But it was
time well used. I want you to notice this. Few
dying people have ever left behind such good evidences as were left
by this man. You hear of men dying every day. men, godly men, men who have
spent a lifetime in the service of God, been faithful to the
Church of the Lord Jesus Christ and so forth, but not many men
leave behind evidences of repentance and salvation by the grace of
God as this man did. I want you to notice this, few
dying people, let that stick in your craw, few dying people
have ever left behind them, that is, when they die, this testimony
is true that they've left behind the evidences. Well, I want you to beware of,
and stay away from, a repentance without evidences. Thousands,
I believe, every day are going out of this world to meet the
God who made them with a lie in their right hand. They forget
or are ignorant of this fact, that if they would be saved as
this thief was saved, they must repent as he repented. is one of the evidences that
this thief left behind, that he repented. Our Lord said, except
you repent, ye shall all likewise perish. Except you repent. Except your attitude about yourself
and about me is changed. Except your attitude about the
God the Father, except your attitude about the Bible, except your
attitude about people in general is changed. except your attitude
about your sins be changed, be altered, you be turned in another
direction, you're going to perish. So beware of a repentance without
evidences. I think that in the Bible, wherever
you find repentance discussed or wherever salvation is discussed
in light of people, You are going to see some evidence mentioned. I remember there on the day of
Pentecost, I think there in the, let me read that to you real
quick, in the book of Acts in about the, oh maybe the third
chapter there somewhere, let me read that. Peter said, Repent
ye and be baptized for the remission of sin. Look at it, Acts chapter 3. And verse 37, it says that Peter
was doing some preaching here to a whole group of people, a
large congregation. And he talked about Christ the
Lord being exalted. And he charged these people that
he preached to with killing the Lord Jesus Christ. But he said
God has highly exalted Him and given Him a name which is above
every name. He is the Lord. God highly exalted
Him. And when they heard this, He
concluded by saying, verse 36, Therefore let all the house of
Israel know assuredly that God hath made that same Jesus, whom
ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ. You have killed this
man Jesus, And God has made this man Jesus, whom you crucified,
both Lord and Christ. Lord over all, over all flesh. All flesh is in His hands now.
He holds the reins of everything. The Lord Jesus, whom you killed
and you crucified. Now when they heard this, they
heard this, they were pricked at their hearts. That is the
Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit came down in power. The Spirit
of the living God and clothed what Peter was preaching with
power, and it penetrated their innermost being. It affected
their hearts. It pricked them. The Holy Spirit
of God took the truth and pricked them in the heart. A lot of people
can hear what I'm preaching this morning, what I preach all the
time, and won't be affected by it. No effect whatsoever. They
can, when the last song and the last amen is pronounced, go out
of the building, and the least thing on their mind is what the
preacher said. They're interested in going someplace
or doing something that they're really interested in, and they're
not concerned about what they heard. And in other words, they've
never been affected. They've never been affected.
The Word has went forth. And it was just like water on
a duck's back, just rolled off. But when God, in the answer to
the prayers of His people, sends His Spirit, His Holy Spirit,
the Spirit of the Living God, to clothe the Word, to make effective
the Word, to apply the Word, to reveal the things of the Lord
Jesus Christ, He does something in a man's heart, where He really
is. He pricks them in their heart, and they feel the guilt of their
sin against God. They feel that guilt. And they're
concerned about the guilt that's against God. They're not so much
concerned about their neighbor or someone else, but they're
concerned that they're guilty before God. And this thing won't
let loose. It just won't give up. It stays
there. And it makes them cry out. And
God, the Holy Spirit, just stabs them right in the heart. Stabs
them right there and their hearts begin to bleed. And they cry
out, they cry out, Mary and Brethren! That's what they said. They said
unto Peter and to the rest of the apostles, Men and brethren,
what shall we do? What shall we do? Peter said,
Repent. That's what you've got to do.
You've got to repent and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for
the remission of sins, and you'll receive the gift of the Holy
Spirit. But you've got to repent. But you'll never cry out. You
see what I'm saying? Men will never cry out until
the Spirit of God pricks your heart. That's what I'm saying.
We'll just go along day after day, Sunday after Sunday, in
the usual manner that we do. Singing a few songs, reading
the Scriptures. Someone leading us in prayer.
And at the conclusion of the service, we'll go our merry way.
Unless! The Spirit of God comes, singles
somebody out, or all of us out, and we feel a guilt against God. We're guilty of sinning against
the Most Holy God. And God stabs us with His Spirit. And we say, oh my soul, what
can I do? What can I do? Where will I go? What shall I look to in order
to find some relief? Peter said, repent. Repent. You've got to repent. You've
got to repent. I said, beware. Beware of this
salvation business, or beware of a repentance business that
doesn't give forth some evidences. It's got to be a holy, ghost-sent
conviction. upon a man's heart, and then
he cries out, What shall I do? Peter said, Repent. Change your
mind about what you thought about God and who God's Son was. You
killed God's Son. You killed Him. You took Him
with cruel and wicked hands and you killed God's Son. You better
repent of this. You better express some remorse
and some sorrow in your heart for this dastardly act and deed
that you committed and gave consent to. There better be a change
of mind in this matter. Boy, they said, all right, we'll
change. We'll change. We're sorry about
all that. Peter said, and be baptized,
every one of you, for the remission of sins. Now, why did he tell
them to be baptized for the remission of sins? I'm going to tell you
why here. This will knock the camel lights for a loop. I'll
tell you why. The same people that Peter is
preaching to here in the day of Pentecost were the same people
that when John the Baptist was preaching, and John told them,
he said, here's the Christ. He said, behold, the Lamb of
God that taketh away the sins of the world. These same people,
they said, no best. They said, no business, we are
going to receive Him and bow to Him and we are not going to
follow His command, we are not going to be baptized. John baptized
a lot of people, a lot of people. These people, they refused to
accept the baptism. They would not be baptized. So
now Peter says, you are going to be baptized. You are going
to be baptized, you are going to go to hell, one of the two.
Baptism will not save anybody. But baptism right here was necessary
that these people might be saved. They were confronted with the
truth of baptism. So he said, you repent and be
baptized, every one of you. In the name of the Lord Jesus
Christ, for the remission of sin, you'll receive the Holy
Ghost. Baptism doesn't save anyone, but baptism, our Lord Jesus Christ
was baptized. He was baptized. He was without
sin, but he was baptized. And he said this, listen to him,
he said, He that believeth and is baptized, the same shall be
saved. And I believe that every man that receives the Lord Jesus
Christ and bows to his claims as Lord, and has an interest
in the atonement of the Lord Jesus, and the mercy and grace
of the Lord Jesus, and the individual that has found out and felt in
his heart that he is guilty before God. I think that individual,
unless he's like the thief on the cross and he cannot be baptized,
I think they will be baptized. Don't you? I think they will.
Alright, the first notable thing that's to be taken into consideration
in Luke chapter 3 in regards to this thief, the first Notable
thing that is mentioned in his repentance was his concern about
his companion's wickedness in reviling the name of the Lord
Jesus Christ. He was making light of the Lord
Jesus, this evil companion of the thief that was saved. Making
fun of him, making light of him. Listen to what he says there
in verse 49. Verse 39, one of the malefacts,
the bad men which were hanged, railed on him, railed on the
Lord, reviled him, reviled him, and said, If you be the Christ,
save yourself and us, not so much interested in the glory
of God, this thief wasn't, he was interested in his own skin. He said, if you be who they say
you are and who you say you are, why? Save yourself! Come down
from the cross! You say, well, that would have
been a good idea. Listen, if He had come down from the cross,
nobody would have been saved! Nobody! Now, nobody can be saved
except Jesus go to the cross and offer Himself in our stead
and place and room and pay that which is our due. If He come
down, We have no salvation. He must go to the cross. And
he railed on the Lord Jesus Christ. But this other thief, and I say
this is the first notable thing mentioned in the narrative concerning
his repentance, was that he was real concerned about his companion's
wickedness in reviling the name of the Lord Jesus. And so this
thief turned to the other one and he said this, Dost not thou
fear God? Don't you fear God? We are seeing
God in the same condemnation. Here we are fastened to this
tree. We are fastened here. There are
nails in our hands. Nails in our feet. And there
is no way under God's heaven for us to get loose. And the
next thing that is going to happen to us, we are going to be in
the grave and go out into eternity and meet the God who made us.
Aren't you afraid of God? No fear of God before your eyes? None whatsoever? Do you fear
God? Oh, my soul, this morning, listen to me. All of us here
under the sound of my voice, some sooner than others, our
time is short. We're going out into eternity.
We're going to meet God face to face. Face to face, we're
going to meet God Almighty. Don't you fear God this morning?
Don't you fear Him? Go meet Him. You better have
more to it than what these false prophets are saying right now.
They are healing people and we are healing so many every day. And people have got cancer and
we lay hands on them and they are better. And we are doing
this and we are doing that. And Jesus said, In that day many
shall come and say, Lord, we have preached in your name. We
have cast devils out in your name. And listen to me, the Bible
doesn't say that the Lord Jesus Christ is going to deny what
they've been doing. But He's going to say this. He's
going to say this. When they say, listen, Lord,
we've baptized people in your name. We've worked miracles in
your name. We've preached in your name.
You know what He's going to say? He's going to say, I never knew
you. I don't know you. I don't know you. But they said,
listen, we've preached in your name. Why, we've cast devils
out of people in your name. I never knew you. I don't know
you now. I never knew you. You're a stranger
to me. Woo! I wouldn't want to hear
that with you. You're a stranger to me. I never knew you. I never
knew ye in eternity past, I never knew ye in time, I don't know
ye in judgment." What's the next step? Bind his hands and bind
his feet and cast him out into outer darkness where there be
weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth. Dost thou fear God? I fear God. Dost thou fear Him? The first evidence of this man's
repentance was he is concerned about his evil companions regard
to what was going on there. He said, seeing that we're in
the same condemnation, we belong here, we're all condemned here
and fastened to this tree and we all belong here. He said,
you and I belong here. He said, we're guilty. There
ain't no doubt about that, we're guilty. We've done what they
said we did. We're insurrectionists, we're
murderers, thieves. idolaters, adulterers, and whatever,
that probably committed every type of sin known to the depraved
nature of man. We're guilty. We're guilty. And
the second thing he said was a full acknowledgment of his
sin. He acknowledged it. He said,
we indeed are justly in condemnation. I acknowledge it. Most people
won't acknowledge it before God. I'm alright. I'm not guilty. I never killed God's son. I never
took God's name in vain. I never did this. I'm as good
as the next fella. When you start measuring yourself
by another man's weakness, boy, you messed up. You messed up. You can come out looking pretty.
You can find somebody in this life and you don't have to look
very far and you can figure out you're a better man than he is.
You say, well, I supported my wife and my family, and that
fellow doesn't do it. That fellow, he drinks his money
away, and his children, they need help and all, and you can
find somebody that's worse than you are. So when you start measuring
yourself by someone else's weakness, you've got a problem. You need
to measure yourself in light of the white heat of the righteousness
of the Son of God. Measure yourself in light of
Him. And if you do so honestly, you'll
have that guilt in your heart. You'll have to say, oh my, I'm
a disobedient sinner. I'm a sinner before God. I ought
to go to hell. Oh, if I don't go, it'll be by
the grace of God. Only hope is in the Lord Jesus
Christ snatching me as a bran from the burning. The whole thing's
on fire. And the fire is licking at my
clothes. And if someone doesn't come along, if someone doesn't
come along with some concern and some compassion towards me
and pull me from this fire, I'm a goner. There ain't no hope
for me. Oh, third thing happened here. He made an open confession
of the innocence of the Lord Jesus Christ. He was interested
in the Lord Jesus. He said, this man, he said, he's
done nothing amiss. Oh my, I remember when it finally
dawned on my poor soul what the preacher was saying. He was saying
that the Lord Jesus Christ, who hung on that tree, was innocent. He was innocent. There was no
guilt in Him. There was no sin in Him. This
was the very expression of God Himself. This was God manifesting
in the flesh, hanging on this tree. And He was paying the debt
and the sin debt of somebody. Oh, when it dawned upon me that
the debt that He was paying for the somebody was for me. And
I said, Oh my soul, Christ, the pure, the innocent, the Lamb
of God, dying in my place. being put to open shame and ridicule
for my sins!" I said, Oh, what manner of love the Father hath
bestowed upon us! Christ dying for me. Christ dying
for the ungodly. Christ dying for sinners. I'll
tell you, He said, This man's done nothing amiss. He said,
This man's perfect. This man's never done anything
wrong. He's perfect. Lord Jesus Christ, He's perfect.
You never hear anybody say anything. These so-called preaching machines
and flaming evangelists and so forth on the television and radio,
you never hear them say anything about the immaculate righteousness
of the Lord Jesus, do you? They don't have anything to say
about Him. All they're interested in is healing your body, healing
your body. But the man that comes along
and tells you about your wickedness and your unrighteousness, and
then tells you about the righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ, that's
your friend. That's your friend because he's
telling you the truth. This man has done nothing amiss. You see,
that's what it takes. Did you know that God requires
perfection? That's what He requires. And
I haven't got it. I haven't got perfection. Well,
where can I go to get it if that's what God requires? That's what
He requires. Well, that which He requires,
He gives. That which He requires, He provides. And that which He provides, He
must accept. Where is it at? It's in Jesus. That's where it's at. Perfection
is in the Lord Jesus, and that's what I need. Oh, that my eyes
was opened, my ears was opened, my heart was opened. Now I can
see that. Now I can see that what God demands from me is found
only in the loveliness of His person. Oh, that I could go to
Him and in my heart embrace Him and receive Him as mine, as my
sacrifice. He's my sacrifice. It must be
perfect to be accepted by God. Oh, then, brethren, this man
said he's done nothing amiss. And then we see, too, in this
man's few short hours upon this earth, there was faith in his
heart in the power of Jesus Christ to save him. He seemed Christ
could save him. He can see that. He turned to
a crucified sufferer. Here's the Lord Jesus Christ
in His weakest moment upon this earth. The weakest moment that
we'll ever hear of Christ being in was right now. He's a man. As much a man as if He was never
God, and as much a God as if He was never man. Here He was,
hanging on a tree. Didn't look like no king, didn't look like
God, didn't look like God's Son. They said, if you be who you
say you are, and who some of them say you are, come down,
come down. Your passion to the tree, you
can't amount to much. If some nails can hold God to
a tree, you don't amount to much. In his weakest hour, weakest
moment, this thief turned to him. He turned to this crucified
sufferer. Listen to me now. He turned to
him and he had some insight as to who he was, more so than about
500,000 people that were there that day. He turned to him and
he called him, Lord! That's what he said. You look at it. He called him,
he said unto Jesus, Lord! He called him Lord. Sovereign Master of Heaven and
of Hell, Lord! That's what he called him. He
turned to this crucified sufferer and called him Lord and declared,
he declared his belief that this man who was fastened to this
tree had a kingdom. He said, I believe you've got
a kingdom. He said, I don't believe those nails are going to hold
you. He said, I don't believe it's going to be all over with
you like it is with me. I don't believe that. He said,
Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom. You've got
a kingdom. You can't have a kingdom unless you be a king. Lord Jesus
didn't look like a king, did he? Didn't look like a king,
but he was king. Now I'll tell you, if God ever
pricks you in the heart, He ever pricks me in the heart, and I
see my guilt against God, and he ever reveals the things of
Christ to my soul, I'll see him as a king. I'll see him as a
king, as one who has a kingdom, and I'll be like this thief.
I'll declare my belief in his kingdom. Lord, remember me. Well, the next thing he done
was pray. That's evidence. These are evidences of this man's
conversion. that salvation is by the grace
of God. The last thing I believe you
could say that this thief did upon this earth was that he begged
in his prayer to be remembered by the Lord. He didn't say anything
about, Lord, I'm about ready to go here. How about my family? Would you look after my family?
Or would you convert this to something else? He said, Lord,
remember me. He begged to be remembered by
the Lord Jesus Christ. Do you want proof this morning
that salvation is by the grace of God apart from works? We have
it right here before us. He could literally do nothing
for his own soul, yet he, by the grace of God, was saved. He couldn't do nothing. He couldn't, from that man that
he stole from, he couldn't make amends. He couldn't do that. He couldn't go back and say,
well, I've taken falsely and unjustly from this fellow, so
therefore I'll give him fourfold of what I've taken. He couldn't
do that. Do you want proof this morning that ordinances such
as the Lord's Supper and And baptism? Do you want proof this
morning that ceremonies and rituals are not absolutely needful to
salvation when they cannot be had? And that a man can be saved without
them? Do you want proof of that? Here
it is. The dying thief was never baptized. The dying thief never
joined any visible church. The dying thief never received
the Lord's supper. The dying thief was not involved
in any ceremonies or any rituals, as far as I know. The Bible doesn't
say anything about it. But I'll tell you what he did.
He repented and he believed on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.
And the end result was what? He was saved. He was saved. Listen
to what it says. And he said, Lord, remember me
when thou comest into thy kingdom. And Jesus said to him, now listen,
the Son of God, God manifest in the flesh, here is Jesus,
the Lord. He rolled his head over, weak
in condition, that is, his humanity. And this thief was about to die.
And he rolled his head over on his chest, and he looked that
thief straight in the eye, and he said to that thief, Verily
I say unto thee, today shalt thou be with me in paradise."
That thief was saved. Baptism, ceremonies, rituals,
essential to this officer, he repented and he believed in the
Lord Jesus Christ. Let's think upon these things.
Jesus Christ never changes. The way of salvation is always
one and the same. It's always by Christ. It's always
by the grace of God. He lives who saved this dying
thief, our Lord Jesus Christ, on God's right hand forevermore. He lives. And there is hope for
the worst of sinners. I don't care how bad a man is,
there's hope for him. as long as he has breath, there
is hope for him. No one, absolutely no one has
ever in this life received a stronger assurance that his sins were
forgiven than this dying thief. Our Lord said, Today shalt thou
be with me in paradise. I believe I can take his word
for it, don't you? I believe Isaiah And he looked at me, and
with both pinions of that tree, he looked at me and he said,
he said, today you're going to bless me. I believe it. Oh, I
believe my soul, my heart would have leaped within me. I believe
I'd have clapped my hands. I'd have believed I'd have said,
praise the Lord. Assurance comes when the Lord
speaks to a man's heart. Not when the preacher says, if
you shake my hand, If you'll do this and if you'll do that,
it's when the Lord speaks to a man's heart and says, Son,
your sins are forgiven you for Christ's sake. That's when a
man's saved. This tells us, brethren, that
the very moment a believer dies, his soul is in perfect happiness
and in safekeeping. The very moment. Now, listen
to me now. There's no waiting period. There's
no mysterious delay. There's no time of separation. There's no purgatory between
death and glory. In the day that a man breathes
his last breath, he goes to God's paradise. In the hour he departs,
he's with the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, if that's not so, I've missed
it. If I haven't told you the truth
according to these four or five verses, I've missed it. I've
missed it. I want to tell you this morning, in closing, my
hope is built on nothing less than Jesus' blood and righteousness. I've hung it all on Him. He's my only hope. He's the sole
object of my faith, is Jesus Christ, who suffered, who was
crucified, who was buried who rose again as never was on God's
right hand, and he bore my pen. My hope is in him. I trust that
the Spirit of God, if there's anyone here, He may prick your
heart. He may prick your heart. I'm
not talking about saying yes to some questions. I'm not saying,
oh, I believe that there's so many books in the Bible, and
I believe that the book of Psalms and Milton. I'm not talking about
that. I believe there's a God. Devils believe in God and tremble.
They just tremble. I'm saying, brethren, can you
in your heart have you felt the Spirit of God? Have you felt
His hand upon you and His heavy upon you? Have you felt your
guilt? You're guilty. You sinned against God. I'm not
talking about sinning against me or Pat McGinnis or Carlton. I'm not talking about that. I'm
talking about you feel your guilt and you sinned against God. I've
sinned against God. Oh, is there any peace for a
man to sin? There is in Christ. If you can
bow to His claims, bow to His claims, and receive Him as your
Lord. All right, let's stand. We'll
be dismissed.