But look at Matthew 27, verse
38. Then were there two thieves crucified
with him, one on the right hand and another on the left. And
they that passed by reviled him, wagging their heads and saying,
thou that destroyest the temple. Buildest it in three days save
thyself if thou be the Son of God come down from the cross
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 now come down 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 The Son of God the thieves also
which were crucified with him cast the same in his teeth And
then back in Luke chapter 23 our text begins this morning
in verse 39 And 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. Now, as we always see from scripture
and say and try to sort of live by when we're looking into the
word of God, we see that the scripture is what really sheds
light on scripture. It's not my thoughts on it. It's
not my opinions about it. It's not what somebody wrote
about it. The only thing that can shed more light is the light. There's just one light. It's
the Lord Jesus Christ and he shines through his word, through
the preaching of the gospel. And this, this is a passage of
scripture. It's hard to explain how it's
different because every word of God is profitable. But here's
the thing, every word of this book is talking about this part
of the book. Does that make sense? Paul said, we preach Christ crucified.
He said that in one of his epistles, but this is what he was talking
about when he said that. This is what we preach. We preach
the son of God dying on a cross and shedding his precious blood
and saving people. when he did it. And that's what
happened here. And scripture sheds light, just
like Matthew 27 sheds light on Luke 23 and vice versa. When
we were in Matthew 27, we looked at Luke 23. And so this pretty
much similar message here, we got to look at both at the same
time. And I'll tell you this, before and since I preached on
Matthew 27, which I think was about six, years ago, I believe
I saw in my notes. Before that and since then, I've
read quite a bit and heard quite a bit on this passage of scripture,
on this event that's described in these passages of scripture.
And I've never heard anything better than something that I
heard probably about 30 years ago. And some of you have heard
me say this, because as I said, we looked at this passage when
we were in Matthew, but this will be a good reminder if you've
heard this, and if you haven't, it'll be a good reminder from
now on of what happened. It's simple, it's clear, it's
what happened. And we know why the Lord gave
himself an offering for sin. the key words there in the thought
that I'm talking about right now is for sin. Sin was dealt
with that day. And so think of it this way,
and as I said, this will be familiar to some of you, there were three
deaths that day. And of course, the Lord Jesus
Christ on that cross that hung in the middle, there was one
on his right hand and one on his left hand, and Christ is
who we preach, But what happened on those other crosses tells us who it was that died
on the middle one and what happened, the result of it. And if you
can remember this simple way of thinking of it, one man, there
were three men that died that day. One man died with sin in
him and sin on him. Sin in him, meaning he died with
a sin nature. Every sinner has sin in him.
And he also died though with sin on him, that is he was responsible
for his sin. He's guilty of them. He got to
pay for them. As the Lord said to the Pharisees,
you will die in your sins. You'll die with sin on you, not
with just sin in you, but you'll be in your sins too. Your sin
is in you, you're in your sin. You don't want to die that way.
You do not want to die that way. That's the thief that cursed
him with his last breath. One of them railed on him to
the end and just kept railing on him and mocked him. You say
you've saved people, you can't even save yourself. If you're
who you say you are, save us. We know the kind of thing that
was being said and the attitude in which that's said. One man died with sin in him,
but none on him. He had the sin nature that the
other one did, but he died sinless in the sight of God because of
the other man that died. He died with no sin in him, but
with the sins of his people on him. He bore their sins. The Lord laid on him the iniquity
of us all. And I know that the scripture
says that he bore our sins in his own body on the tree. So you could say in that sense,
he had sin in him in some sense, he bore our sins in his own body,
but not in the sense that he had a sin nature. In him is no
sin. The thief who died mocking the
Lord Jesus Christ, of course, is the one who died with sin
in him, his nature, But he died also with sin on him. He bore
his sins. And he was responsible and punishable
for all of his sin. The other thief died with sin
in him without question, in himself. He knew it. He said, I'm getting
what I deserve. Not many people will say that.
Milton Howard, my friend Milton, preaches down in Ball, Louisiana. He preaches in prison a lot.
He preaches to a lot of prisoners. He said, I've never found anybody
that actually did what they were accused of. Not one. Every one of them is innocent.
But not this man. He said, we're guilty as we can
be. We're getting what we deserve. But he died by nature, a child
of wrath. And never in this life do we
cease to be sinners. Not in this life, I'm a sinner
this morning. Paul said, oh, wretched man that
I am, not that I used to be. But that other thief, that thief
that we're gonna talk, I guess, most about, he died with no sin
on him. That is the guilt, the accountability
of his sin was taken away and put on another. The only way
that you're ever gonna see God, that you're ever gonna be with
Christ in paradise, is if you have no sin on you. You can't
have any sin imputed to you. Romans 4, 5, but to him that
worketh not, in other words, he ceased to try to please God
by his own law keeping, by his own works before God, but believeth
on him that justifieth the ungodly. Do you see the light? Turn over
there with me if you would to Romans five. I might go, I don't
want to go long this morning, but if I do, this will be the
only message we'll have today. And maybe, maybe we can, maybe by the Lord's grace, we
can hear it. Romans 4-5, but to him that worketh
not, from him that has ceased from his own labors, he's like
Paul in Philippians chapter 3, nothing that I've ever done,
nothing that I've ever been, nothing that I am is worth anything
before God, it's done. but believeth on him that justifieth
people like that. People that are ungodly, people
that don't measure up, people that can't keep the law, people
that don't do anything but break the law. Even when you think
you're keeping the law, you're breaking the law. In here, you're
evil on the inside. God justifies people like that. Thank God he does. That man's
faith is counted for righteousness. We don't have any righteousness,
but because you believe on him who is righteous, God sees you
righteous. Even as David also describeth
the blessedness of the man unto whom God imputeth righteousness
without earning it, without works, without doing any righteousness
at all, in actual deed. Saying, blessed are they whose
iniquities are forgiven. and whose sins are covered. Blessed
is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin." That's simply
what I mean when I say there's no sin on him. He was full of
sin, but he didn't have any on him because of the Lord Jesus
Christ. The Lord Jesus Christ died that
day on Calvary with no sin in him. And I will never, ever stress
this enough. Our hope is the sinless, spotless
lamb of God. Oh, if we're ever gonna emphasize
anything and dwell on anything, it is that the blood, his precious
blood as of a lamb without blemish and without spot. First John 3, four, whosoever
committeth sin, transgresseth also the law, for sin is the
transgression of the law. That comes from a nature of sin,
but that's what sin is, indeed, it's a transgression of God's
law. But look at verse five, and you
know that he was manifested to take away our sins, and in him is no sin. That line right there, what a
beautiful gospel. I hope I can remember that, and
every once in a while, that'll just pop into my mind. Think
about this now. You know that he, Christ, was manifested to
take away our sins, and in him is no sin. Boy, that's the gospel
right there. That's the gospel now. Only a
spotless lamb is an acceptable offering under the law of God
for sin. You know that you're not redeemed
with corruptible things, such as silver and gold from your
vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers,
but with the precious blood of Christ as of a lamb without blemish
and without spot. You see why this is such a consequential
and especially interesting, not interesting in the sense that,
oh, I'm curious about it, but interesting in the sense that
we have an interest in this. We have a stake in this. Everything
else is written about this. What's happening in our text
right now, the precious blood of Christ as of a lamb without
blemish and without spot. And that thief looked at him
and said, he has no blemish. He's done nothing wrong. But
friends, listen, this is the wonder of all wonders. And this
now, this is, this too, you know, this is just
clear gospel. The Lord Jesus Christ died with
no sin in him, but he died with my sin on him. And yours, if
you're his, if you believe on him, if you know him, he died
with your sin on him. And that's clear from the scripture
now. The thief that the Lord saved had sin in him, but none
on him, and this is why. This is why he didn't have any
on him, right here. Because his sin was on the Savior.
Isaiah 53, six, all we like sheep have gone astray, we've turned
every one to his own way, and the Lord hath laid on him the
iniquity of us all. That verse right there is simply
our part in salvation and God's part. You know what your part
is? You need it. Our part is the sinning and his
part is the saving. He died with sin on him that
day, but don't ever be confused. If you have any question about
it, come talk to me about it. Don't ever be confused about
whose sin it was. It was not his. It never was
his. He ain't ever gonna have any.
He never has had any. And he's not ever gonna have
any. He bore my sins. And the scriptures are very plain
about that. He bore my sins. Listen, Isaiah 53, five, the
verse right before that one. But he was wounded for our transgressions. He wasn't wounded for what used
to be our transgressions. He was wounded for our transgressions.
He was bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement of our peace
was upon him, and with his stripes we're healed. And listen to 1
Corinthians 15 three. I delivered unto you, and think
about this. Now this is how the gospel was
characterized by those who preached it. And there's so many examples
of this in the New Testament. How are you gonna characterize
that? How are you going to describe what happened on Calvary? Something
that you can't, there's no explaining it. How can he bear my sin? I don't know. I don't know. But
how are you going to preach that? Are you going to get all complicated
and get down in the weeds and try to understand how God could
do that and how God, you know, Things that are not revealed
in the, no, here's what you're simply going to do. Here's what
you're going to do. You're going to declare this. Paul said, I
delivered unto you first of all, that which I also received, how
that Christ died for our sins, according to the scriptures.
Is that complicated? That's not complicated, is it?
That's simple. He died with no sin in him. In
him is, was, never will be any sin. but he bore our sins in
his body on the tree, and so Paul just simply preached this.
Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures. That doesn't
confuse me. I may not believe it, and I won't
believe it unless God reveals it to me, but there's nothing
confusing about that. Don't ever be confused about
whose sin it was. Don't ever be confused about
the holy nature of God's lamb. Don't ever be confused about
what was accomplished there. He saved me there. He didn't
make it possible. He didn't make it available.
He didn't offer it to me. He saved me. That's how important
our text is this morning. He saved a whole bunch of people.
That's what he did. Plum saved them. Now, if the
Lord has laid on Christ your iniquity, then it's no longer
on you, though you have sin in you. And again, we could get
all complicated about how do you explain that? How does God
not see any sin in us, and yet we're full of sin, and we know
he sees everything? It's just simple, isn't it? It's
simple. It's not complicated. In myself, I'm wretched, I'm
vile, but God doesn't see me in myself. He knows about it.
He's not ignorant of me in myself. He's not unaware of what I am
in myself, but he sees me in his son. He sees me in Christ,
and in Christ, I'm spotless and holy and pure before God. I can't
explain that, but it's not complicated, is it? Is that unclear at all? I'm full of sin, but I don't
have any sin on me at all. Not a bit. And we will never
pay. You say, well, all the Lord's
punishing me for my sin. I hope not. Because I tell you
this, if you're in Christ, you're not ever going to be punished.
You never have been punished. You never will be punished for
your sin. We'll never even know what it
is to be punished for our sin. Never will. You will never pay for it. And
one day you're going to be like him. One of these days, we're
not going to have any in us or on us. We're going to be like
him. If Christ died for everybody,
then everybody will be with him in paradise. And we know that's
not right. We know that's not true. That's not the case. From
scripture, we know that. He declared clearly that he laid
down his life for his sheep. And he clearly identified those
for whom he was interceding in John 17 as their great high priest,
and those for whom he was going to the cross. When he prayed
to his father, he identified them this way, those whom thou
has given me. He calls them more than anything
else in the word of God, his elect, his chosen. And you remember
what he said about that? It's exactly the opposite of
what's being preached from most pulpits. You have to choose Christ. You need to make that all-important
decision. You know what he calls his people more than anything
else in the word of God? His elect, his chosen. And you
remember what he said about that? You didn't choose me, I chose
you. It's just the opposite. You don't need to make an all-important
decision. You need to look to the one that does, that makes
every decision. He'll save you or he'll damn
you. You need to bow to him and trust him. Trust the spotless
Lamb to be your sin offering and your righteousness before
God, abandoning every work and every thought and every word
of your own. Well, we read a while ago there
in Romans 4, 8, listen to it again. Blessed is the man to
whom the Lord will not impute sin. And the way that happens
is he imputes it to his son. the Lord Jesus Christ was charged
with my sin. Not because he's a sinner, but
because he's my substitute. That's why, because he took my
place. He's my surety. He obligated
himself in the eternal covenant of grace to be our surety, that
is to be responsible for our sin debt. Not in the case that
we would forfeit or fail, but knowing that we would forfeit
and fail. And our text described that debt
coming due. That's what's happening there.
That debt is coming due and we're not paying it. And that thief
on his right hand, it never tells us which one is on his left or
which is on his right, but I got a pretty good idea about that.
We're gonna read a scripture about that in a minute. That one on his right hand never
paid it either. He paid a debt he did not owe. I owed a debt
I could not pay. Have you ever heard that song?
I needed someone to wash my sins away. And now I sing a brand
new song. Amazing grace all day long. Christ Jesus paid the debt that
I could never pay. He paid a debt he did not owe.
And I owed a debt I couldn't pay. And that's what happened. He paid it. He paid it in full.
Now, maybe you've wondered, how did that one thief know? How
in the world did he know? At first we read he was railing
on the Lord and mocking him just like the other one was. But nobody else seemed to much
know who the Lord was. Even his disciples, they believed
on him, they knew who he was. Simon had said, you're the Christ,
you're the son of the living God, but they all forsook him
and fled. But that thief, when everyone was mocking and ridiculing
him, and he himself had been doing the same, cast the same
into his teeth. What happened? Well, think about
this again in answer to that question. Consider that this
was no random arrangement. One savior, two sinners on either
side, and read with me. Let me remind you of this verse
in Matthew 27, where we read a while ago, verse 38. Then there
were two thieves crucified with him, the one on the right hand
and the other on the left. And now turn to Matthew chapter
25, verse 31. Matthew 25, 31. You remember what that thief
said? Remember me when you come into your kingdom. Now listen
to this verse. When the son of man shall come
in his glory and all the holy angels with him, then shall he
sit upon the throne of his glory and before him shall be gathered
all nations and he shall separate them one from another as a shepherd
divided his sheep from the goat. Is that what happened maybe on
Calvary you reckon? He made a difference, didn't
he? When he saved you, he did that too. He might've separated
you out of your family. He might've saved your whole,
he might've separated your family from everybody else you know.
But he makes a difference, doesn't he? He shall set the sheep on
his right hand, but the goats on the left. Why would it even
tell you One on his right hand and one on his left hand. This
is not, it's not important. The Lord would have just come
out and revealed that it was the one on his right hand that
said it, you know, if it was. But the reason it is important
is the difference, the contrast. The difference between the right
hand and the left hand is the middle. The son of God made a
difference. He set a sheep on his right hand
on the very cross. I'm pretty sure this is what
he did. He set a sheep on his right hand and a goat on his
left hand, and he showed the whole world how he deals with
sin. Right there on that cross. Then
shall the king say unto them on his right, come ye blessed
with my father, today thou shalt be with me in paradise. It's
pretty similar, isn't it? Come ye blessed to inherit the
kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.
Isn't that beautiful? One on his right hand and one
on his left. This arrangement on these three crosses is a microcosm
of the whole world of sinners. And it's an open display of the
sovereign grace of Christ in saving whom he will and damning
whom he will. The ones on the right hand were
saved, why? Because I prepared my kingdom
for you before you were ever born. Before you ever sinned,
I was your savior. Both of these thieves were crucified
within a few feet of the son of God. Both could see everything
that happened that day. Both heard the words that he
spoke from the cross. Both were in the same situation,
dying and desperate and in need of mercy, but only one of them
wanted it. Both were condemned criminals
who at the beginning, both were mocking and railing on the Son
of God in the same situation, in the same condition, experiencing
all the same things. And yet what a difference, what
a difference. No difference in them. And the same thing happens whenever
the gospel and wherever the gospel is preached. Two sinners sit
and hear exactly the same sermon. One is bored out of their mind.
I've been in both seats. I've been in both seats. I know,
I know you're bored out of your mind. You can't wait for me to
be done. But I tell you what, there may
be somebody sitting next to you that when I'm done, they can't
wait to hear it again. That's the difference the Lord
makes. That's salvation by the one that hung on that cross in
the middle. Two siblings are raised in the same household
by the same parents under the same circumstances and one is
a rebel against all authority his whole life and never changes. Never has any interest in the
gospel. While the other at some point in their life And think about the first thing
that that old thief said. He was mocking right along with
the other one until, what was the first thing out of his mouth
that wasn't that, that wasn't mocking, that wasn't scorning
the Son of God? Don't you fear God? And he wasn't
scolding him, he was just like, he honestly wondered, how in
the world? How in the world can a sinner not fear God? I don't
believe he was being self-righteous about it, do you? I don't think
he was saying, oh, you don't fear God and I do. Not in that situation, not with
what was happening to him, by God's grace. He's just saying,
how can we not fear God? How can we say what we've been
saying? And at one point, somewhere along,
Throughout the years of your life, if you know him, you began
to fear God and you began to hear differently. You began to
listen as if it actually was and is the word of God. I need
to hear from God. How can I not fear God? How can
I hear God speak and not be interested? And you attend unto his gospel
Before long, sometime along the way, and I don't know, the Lord
deals differently in different manners with different people,
but it's always the same thing. You've got to see him. What happened
to that one thief? He saw who that was. He just
saw him. He just knew him. And that happens
in many households and in many churches all across the world. But how,
how did that one thief know who the Lord was? Exactly the same
way you do. Because the Lord revealed himself. The same way any sinner ever
does. Our Lord answered that question
very plainly in Matthew chapter 16. We won't turn there again,
because we've been referring to this quite a bit. And for
a good while, you remember this, when the Lord asked him, who
are people saying that I am? What are people saying about
me? Some say you're Elijah, risen from the dead. Some say you're
Jeremiah, one of the other prophets. Some say you're John the Baptist.
You know, that's what that old king was saying. But then he
said this. Why didn't he just say this to
start with? Because he's showing the difference. What is everybody
saying? Now, what do you say? He deliberately showed a difference,
didn't he? He deliberately made a separation. He deliberately
revealed that there's a difference between what everybody else is
saying about me, the most important thing you can say something about,
the Son of God, what think ye of Christ. There's a difference
between what everybody else is saying and what you're saying,
what you believe, what you know to be true. And then he tells
them why. You remember what it was? Who
do you say I am? You're the Christ. You are that
Christ. We believe and we're certain
that thou art that Christ, the son of the living God. So the
Lord deliberately drew a separation, didn't he? And then he told him
why. My father revealed that to you. You didn't figure it
out. Nobody could teach it to you,
not without him. Nobody comes to me except the
father draw him. and nobody knows who I am unless it's revealed. That's
how he knew, that's how the thief knew. That's why he changed his
mind. Repentance just means a change
of mind. At first he sees an object of scorn and mockery and
then what a change of mind. You're the king, you're the king
of kings. And the Lord said, There in Matthew
16, he explained why in the execution of it, but also in this, my father
revealed that, but back up a little bit from that, and remember what
he said? You're blessed, Simon, you're blessed. Blessed of the
Lord are you, for flesh and blood hasn't revealed it unto you. It's the grace of God. The grace
of God, his blessing. Since God saved this dying thief,
Don't ever despair of mercy. Don't ever despair, don't ever
think, well, God's done with me. If he was ever gonna be done
with somebody, there's a man drawing his last breaths and
using them to curse the Savior. But they weren't quite his last
ones, were they? By the grace of God, not quite, not quite. Almost. But the Lord saved a few breaths
for him to ask for mercy. No matter how desperate you are,
no matter how hopeless, don't look to yourself for anything.
Don't think, well, if I just believed more or if I was just
more, you're not gonna find anything in yourself. You've got to look
to him fully completely and only to Him if you're gonna come to
Him. It's not about whether you're qualified. It's not about whether
you measure. It's not about whether you believe enough. It's about
who He is and what He did for you. This sinner was breathing his
last few breaths and he was of no use to the Savior. He had
done nothing thus far in his life and he wasn't going to.
He had never recommended himself to God and he wasn't able to
now. What was he gonna promise God? Lord, if you save me, I'll
live for you. Really? You know, religion teaches
that. We're saved to serve. That's
mercenary, that's not grace. That sounds a little bit like
fascism, doesn't it? That's not grace, save to serve. This man wasn't saved to serve.
How about you? Is that why God saved you? Because
he needed your help with something? Since the Lord saved this man,
I don't believe the Lord saved sinners for their service. I think he just saves them because
he loves them. I'm pretty sure about that. Since God saved this
thief, don't ever trust in anything you ever do for salvation. This man had never done anything
but deserve what he was getting. Salvation is by grace, but you
have to be baptized, really? I don't think so. You're gonna wanna be if you're
saved. If he saves you, you're gonna wanna be. The Ethiopian
said, what's stopping me from being baptized? That's the attitude
of somebody that the Lord saves. But there's no efficacy in that
water. That's a picture, that's a commitment,
that's a confession of the fact that he has saved you by grace
through faith in him. And it doesn't matter what but
you add to it. Salvation's by grace, but this thief does away
with every one of them. There are no buts in his salvation.
Not a single one is, not a single one. Since God saved this thief,
I must believe that all that's necessary for a sinner to be
saved is for the Lord to just simply reveal to you who he is. That's it. That's it. Now, the
way he does that is by the preaching of the gospel. Paul was clear
about that. It pleased God by the foolishness of preaching.
When you say, well, nobody preached a sermon to this man. Well, I
don't know about that. The Lord said some things from
the cross, didn't he? How long does a sermon need to
be? How many words does it need to be? You say, well, okay, Chris, why
don't you start preaching for five minutes? Well, I might,
I just might. I'm thinking about it. It's who, it's who, isn't it? It's who, we preach a who. But nothing else, there was no
other advantage, was there? No other advantage. And after we've done everything
we know to do here, the Lord still has to do that. I want,
the means are important, aren't they? God, the God who ordained
salvation also ordained means that he uses to save people.
That's the word of God. How shall they hear without a
preacher? How shall they call on him of whom they've not heard?
Paul deals with that in Romans chapter 10, doesn't he? The means
of salvation, that's important. It's not gonna happen without
him. But I'll tell you this, when we've done everything that
the Lord has given us to do, he's still got to do this. He's
still got to show us who he is. He's still got to turn the light
on. The day star still has to arise in your heart. He's got
to reveal himself to you by his grace, by his power. And since God saved this thief,
We understand and we rejoice in this truth that God's revealing
grace when he does reveal himself, that's a supernatural thing.
And it is irresistible. When he says, let there be light,
there's light. That's how you see God's glory
in the face of that broken, bloody, defeated by all accounts, man
hanging on that cross. Think about that. The first words
out of his mouth was, don't you fear God? But then the first
thing he said to the Lord was what? Lord. That's what you say
to the Lord. You say, Lord. And think about
what he was looking at when he said that. How do you look at the broken? Bloody, defeated, mocked. Everybody's mocking him. Everybody
was kicking him while he was down. He was despised. Being murdered in the most humiliating
way that man could devise to kill somebody. And yet he looked and saw a king.
That's great. That's you now. People are still
mocking him. How about you? Why not? Same
reason. It's just the truth in it. The
world still mocks him. They still despise him. They
still reject him. But God also still revealing
his son to sinners. He's still doing that. And may
God give us eyes to see who he is. We've seen how that it was
specifically in the character of the sovereign that Christ
was. abjectly despised that day. They put a crown of thorns on
his head. Why do you think they did that?
To mock him as king. It was his sovereignty, his glory
as the sovereign son of God, the king of glory, that they
derided him and mocked him and wanted to tear him down. And
yet it was in that very character that he revealed himself to that
thief. If there was one thing he wouldn't have seen, it would
have been a king. You see what I'm saying? And yet he saw a king. He saw the king. Oh, for eyes
to see him as he is. Many saw him as we've seen in
recent messages, an object of pity and shame. They still do. They still do. Many saw an object
of scorn and ridicule, still do. I know some people that make
fun of him every chance they get. Many saw an enemy defeated, once
and for all, they still do. Sinners still consider the Christ
of the Bible an enemy to this day. Oh, everybody, just about
everybody loves a Jesus of some kind, They have no love for the
Christ of the Bible. The thief, he looked and he saw
the same swollen, bruised, bloody face from being buffeted by those
men, those soldiers. He saw the same torn brow and
the blood flowing down from that crown of thorns that was on his
head. He saw the same naked body with nails pounded into his hands. and into his feet, and yet the
first word he spoke to the Savior was, Lord. And I'll tell you this, the reason
that's so important, the reason I'm spending so much time on
that, is that's what's gonna happen to you if he saves you.
You're not gonna see anything else, really, except the sovereign
Son of God shedding his precious blood so that you might be with
him in paradise. If you've never bowed to the
Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord Jesus Christ, if you've never bowed,
you've never seen him, knock it down. John said, I fell at
his feet as a dead man. Job repented in dust and ashes. Isaiah said, woe is me, for I'm
undone and I'm unclean. The leper in Matthew 8, he just
saw the same man walking around. You say, in those other cases
you just mentioned, Chris, the Lord revealed himself in some
glorious vision. What about that leper in Matthew
8? He saw the same man walking around, the Nazarene, the carpenter's
son, walking around that everybody else had seen. Some saw in him
a free meal or a magic show of some kind, and they were interested
because of that. Others, as we read, Elijah or
one of the prophets, they thought it was some kind of a reincarnation. The Jews saw a leader who would
deliver them from the oppression of the Romans. And that leper,
he saw the same person, the same man looking the same way. And
yet he said this, Lord, if you will, you can make me clean. You see what we're talking about?
Who do you see? Who do you see? That's the difference. It's the
difference now because he makes that difference. He causes those
he saves to see him as he is. To see the glory of God in his
face now. That's what happens. And pretty
much the first words out of your mouth are gonna be, Lord. Remember
Saul of Tarsus? Lord, what would you have me
do? He knew what he was doing before that. He knew what he
wanted to do, didn't he? Lord, what do you want me to
do now? That's how it happens now. He's never saved sinners
but one way. Never saved them but one way.
If you will, you can do the impossible. Because with men it's impossible,
but with God, all things are possible. And flesh and blood
can't reveal that to you, that he can if he will. Nobody can
reveal that to you but him. And may God Almighty reveal to
us as he did to this wretched thief. The dying thief rejoiced
to see that fountain in his day. And there may I, though vile
as he, wash all my sins away. These are they who have washed
their robes and made them white. In the blood of the Lamb, may
he reveal to us as he did to Simon, and to this sinful
thief that this Jesus whom we crucified is the only sin offering
that God will accept. This Jesus whom you crucified,
you remember what they said there in Acts? That God hath made him
both Lord and Christ. This Jesus whom we crucified
is the only righteousness in which you and I can stand before
God accepted. Accepted. May God reveal to us
the King. Lord, remember me when thou comest
into thy kingdom. The Christ, the son of the living
God, and may he give us grace to bow and faith to believe. That thief, he couldn't bow his
body. He couldn't bow his head, really. He couldn't get on his
knee, but he was bowing in his heart, wasn't he? May he give us grace to bow,
faith to believe and love for him who is altogether lovely. That's salvation. Let's pray.