Good morning, brethren. Let's
turn in our Bibles to Luke 23. Luke 23. Our Lord here has been delivered
to the cross, or He has delivered Himself to the cross, we should
say. And there's two thieves crucified
on each side of Him. And in verse 35, 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 and 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
Hebrew, this is the king of the Jews. And one of the malefactors
which were hanged railed on him saying, if thou be the Christ,
save thyself and us. But the other answering rebuked
him saying, 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. 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. Brethren, the Lord saved this
thief on the cross. Some people want to argue whether
or not that's true, but it's true. The Lord saved that thief
that day. The Lord promised him, Verily
I say unto thee, Thee word, gave his word, and promised this man,
Today shalt thou be with me in paradise. He promised him he'd
be with him in glory, he'd be with him in heaven that day.
The Lord saved him that day. And that's important because
in this one sinner, we see how our Lord saves every sinner.
We see how He saves every sinner. We learn so much from this man.
I'm so thankful for this thief that the Lord saved. Because
we learn so much from this man and how he was saved. No matter
who you are, no matter where you are, this is how the Lord
saves. This is how the Lord saves. For
the sinner who's just being drawn by Christ, or for a believer
who's already been called to Christ or for one that's been
many years in the faith. Anytime the Lord draws us and
he brings us into a place where, like we saw Thursday night, where
he touches your thigh and brings you to see your need, this is
what he's teaching. The things we see right here,
this is what he's teaching. He keeps teaching us this over
and over and over. This is what we need. This is
what we need. I just want to look at three
things. I want to first look at the condition of this man. This man was only a sinner. Nothing more. That's all this
man was, was a sinner. This man was a condemned criminal,
hanged up on a cross because he's being executed. He was somebody
who a society full of sinners judged him not worthy to live
among them. That's how bad this man was.
Sinners deemed him not worthy to live. But even more serious
than that, in himself, this man was guilty before God. If he'd been found before God
in judgment the way they hung him up on that cross, this man
would have been guilty. He had broken the whole law of
God. He's hung there for being a thief, and probably for murder. They usually didn't put a thief
on a cross. It was probably something worse
than just being a thief, but it wasn't just one law he had
broken, and it wasn't just outwardly. He had broken every law of God. We all broke every law of God
in Adam. Every one of us did. We broke
every law of God in Adam. And we became guilty. Guilty
before God. Guilty before God. God's not
just looking on the outward. He's looking on the heart. And
he says that you and me come into this world totally, thoroughly
guilty due to Adam's one transgression. And we have a multitude of sins
in us. We break the law from, we come
from the womb speaking lies, scripture said. Guilty of the
whole law of God. The very best righteousness,
the very best righteousness of the very best of men. is still, it comes short of the
glory of God. It comes short of the righteousness
that God requires. This is what the Lord has to
show us. He has to teach us this about ourselves and make it so
very bad to us that we see we need Christ. I mean, this man
was in a very, very bad condition. And this is the condition we're
all in. We're not just talking about the very worst deeds. Yes,
this man was a thief. Yes, this man was, he was a bad
man. But the very best righteousness
of the very best of men falls short of the righteousness God
demands. The scripture says, there's no
difference. No difference in me, no difference
in you, no difference in anybody on this earth. We have all sinned
and come short of the glory of God. If thou, Lord, shouldest
mark iniquities, O Lord, who shall stand? Now, can you see and can you
confess that there is absolutely no difference in you than this
thief on the cross. Do you see that about yourself?
No difference in you than this thief on the cross. This thief
and those that were reviling our Lord, those that were saying
those horrible things to our Savior, there's no difference
in any of them and me and you. In our flesh, no difference. Do we see that? Do we know that?
The Spirit of God gave this thief a new heart. How do you know
that? Because he confessed he was a
sinner. And that's the only way a sinner will confess he's a
sinner. He justified God and he confessed he was only a sinner.
The only way anybody would do that is if the Spirit of God
gives us a heart and teaches us what we are. Look at verse
40. He rebuked the other thief, saying,
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. He said we're in the same condemnation,
we're in the very same condemnation and we're receiving the just
due, the just reward for our sins, for our deeds. The due
reward for our sin is death. And it's not just death, physical
death, it is the justice of God, the condemnation of God. Is that
what you justly do? Do you feel that way? Do you
know that you're justly due condemnation? Can you justify God and say that
that's your just reward for your deeds? Are you the sinner and only the
sinner and nothing but a sinner? Sometimes I think that we talk
about sin and people just think that's a doctrine. And to natural
religious man, it is just a doctrine. But it's got to be more than
a doctrine if we're going to believe God. It's got to be what
we are. We got to be made to see we are
the depraved one. We are the sinner. But here's
the good news of the gospel. Here's the good news of the gospel.
Not only is everybody that comes into this world, every child
of Adam a sinner, everyone that God saves and everyone He elected
to save from before the foundation of the world is nothing but a
sinner. That's good news. Everyone the
Lord elected to save from before the foundation of the world is
nothing but a sinner. Look at Mark chapter 2. Mark
chapter 2. And look at verse 17. They saw our Lord eating Republicans
and sinners. And they asked, why does he eat
Republicans and sinners? And it says, Mark 2 and verse
17, when Jesus heard it, he said to them, they that are whole
have no need of the physician. But they that are sick, I came
not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. I came
to call sinners to repentance. You see, that's good news. That's
who he saves. That's who he saves. So the first
thing we see about this man, this man is condemned. I mean,
he's hanging on a cross in the process of dying. about to meet
God, guilty before God, he's nothing but a sinner. That's
all he is. Now, let me tell you something.
From the moment God calls you to the day you draw your last
breath in this earth, all we are in ourselves is the sinner. That's it. That's it. If we get above being the sinner,
we're going to be in bad shape. We won't have a need anymore.
We got to remember, in my flesh dwells no good thing. Alright, secondly, this man was
totally helpless. This man is helpless. His hands
and his feet are nailed to a cross. He is helpless. Absolutely helpless. This man could not do even one
of the things that false preachers tell sinners that they have to
do to be saved. He couldn't do one of them. His
hands and his feet are nailed to a cross. And that's true of every sinner
God elected to save. That's true of every sinner God
elected to save. It never ceases to be true of
the sinner that God elected to save. We are totally helpless
to contribute one work to salvation. That's what this simple phrase
means. When Jonah learned this, salvation
is of the Lord, he learned You and me don't, we do not contribute
to the work. Salvation is of the Lord. Now just look at this thief.
Both his hands and his feet are nailed to a cross. He's helpless.
He can't contribute. He can't contribute. At the end
of the Sermon on the Mount, I want you to look at Matthew 7. Look
at verse 21. At the end of the Sermon on the
Mount, this is what the Lord Jesus said. Matthew 7 verse 21. Matthew 7, 21. He said, Not every
one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom
of heaven, but he that doeth the will of my Father which is
in heaven. He said, not every man's going
to enter into the kingdom of heaven, but he that doeth the
will of my Father which is in heaven. He's saying the only
way any sinner is going to enter into heaven is if he does the
will of my heavenly Father. That's the only way. It's the
only way. And yet the Lord told this man,
today thou shalt be with me in paradise." Now the Lord said
it in that Sermon on the Mount, the only way any man is going
to enter into heaven is if he does the will of his Father in
heaven. And then he tells this man, today
you'll be with me in heaven. With his feet and his hands nailed
to a cross, this man did the will of God the Father. He did the will of God the Father.
Go to John 6. This is what he did. He had his
hands and his feet nailed to a cross. This is what he did.
He was helpless. He couldn't do anything else. Somebody might say, well, he
didn't have any other choice. Well, that's what salvation is.
It's the Lord bringing you to the place where you have no other
choice. You know what heresies mean?
There must needs be heresies that they which are approved
may be manifest. Heresies are choices. And as
long as you have choices, you're going to make the wrong choice.
So am I. God has to take our choices away
and shut us up to Christ where we don't have any other alternative. And he gives you a willing heart.
Here's the will of the Father. He said, no man will enter heaven
but he that does the will of the Father. And He said, this
man, He said, today you're going to heaven with me. He did the
will of the Father. What is it? John 6, 28. Then
said they unto him, What shall we do that we might work the
works of God? Jesus answered and said unto
them, This is the work of God, that you believe on him whom
he hath sent. Look at verse 40. And this is
the will of him that sent me, that every one would seeeth the
Son, and believeth on him. may have everlasting life, and
I will raise Him up at the last day. That's the will of the Father. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.
That's the will of the Father. The thief on the cross, he didn't
work to obtain righteousness. You and me can't work to obtain
righteousness. It's not by works of righteousness
which we've done. We're saved by His mercy. By
His mercy. This man believed unto righteousness. That's how you're made righteous.
That's the only way. That's the will of the Father.
The will of the Father when He, in eternity, He chose His Son. He chose to glorify His Son.
He chose to glorify His name, all His holy attributes, everything
about Himself. He chose to manifest His righteousness,
everything about Himself in His Son and save a people. And He chose. This was His will.
I'll make my people righteous by bringing them to believe on
my Son. His Son did all the work. Christ
did all the work. He's hanging on that cross right
there, justifying His people from all our sins, making us
the righteousness of God in Him. He's fulfilling the law of God. He's declaring God just, paying
the sin debt, and He's justifying His people, and He has to bring
us to the place where we have our hands and our feet nailed
to the cross, and all we do is believe on the Lord Jesus. That's
the will of the Father. We believe unto righteousness. Now, I'm not discrediting good
works. If this man had lived a long life, he would have done
good works just like every one of us do by God's grace. All
of God's people do good works. He would have. But brethren,
we're not saved by our works. We're seeing here how we're saved.
We're saved by the work of the Lord Jesus, by his faithfulness,
by his fidelity. It's by the righteousness of
Christ. He cried out from the cross and
said, it is finished. He fulfilled the law. He is the
righteousness of God. We have to be brought to submit
to Christ and believe Him. And see, that's the rub with
sinners because we want to think we're righteous and we can work
out a righteousness. No, we can't. He's the righteousness
of God. And through faith, God imputes
his righteousness to us. Let me show you something else.
In Hebrews 12, God says that without holiness,
no man shall see God. Without holiness, no man will
be able to enter into the kingdom of God and be accepted of God.
Without holiness. He said, follow after peace with
all men and holiness with all men without which no man shall
see the Lord. If we don't have holiness and
we don't have peace, we're not going to enter into the kingdom
of God and be accepted of God. And yet this man right here was
told by our Lord Jesus, today thou shalt be with me in paradise.
Now put those two together. The Lord said, without holiness,
no man shall see the Lord. Without holiness, no man is going
to enter the kingdom of God. And the Lord told this man, today
thou shalt be with me in the kingdom of God. With his hands and his feet nailed
to a cross, this man had the holiness without which no man
shall see the Lord." How's that possible? How's that possible? Because Christ is the holiness. He's the righteousness of His
people and He's the holiness of His people. Christ is. He is. When he called Apostle
Paul and sent him to preach the gospel, he said, I'm calling
you, I'm sending you to preach this gospel. And he said, and
through this gospel, I'm going to sanctify them through faith
that is in me. He gives a pure heart. He purges
the heart. He gives a new spirit. Christ
is formed in you and he's the holiness of the new heart. That
Paul said in Ephesians 4, there's a new man created in the righteousness
and true holiness of the Lord Jesus Christ. In his image, Christ
in you the hope of glory. He is the holiness. He said to
Paul, and I'm going to deal with this in our second message, but
he said to Paul, or Paul said to us in 1 Corinthians 1.30,
of God are you in Christ Jesus? who of God is made unto us wisdom
and righteousness and sanctification. And that word is holiness and
redemption. Christ is the holiness without
which no man shall see the Lord. We're sanctified by faith that's
in Christ. That's why that next word in
Hebrews 12, 15 says, follow after holiness with all men, looking
diligently. doing what this man right here
did, looking to Christ, looking to Christ. Now I'm not discrediting
holiness, I'm not discrediting godliness. Follow after holiness, but don't
ever forget Christ is the sanctifier. He set us apart. He perfected
His people forever by His one offering. Them that are sanctified,
it's by His will we're sanctified. And He is the holiness He sanctifies
us into. We'll see that more the next
hour. This man, not only this, this man had not been taught
a great degree of doctrine. He heard the gospel and those
things that were said that day. When they said He saved others,
Himself He cannot save. That's true. He's the substitute. He can't come down off the cross
if He's going to save His people. He died down His life willingly
to save His people. He saw He is the King of the
Jews. That's true. He's the King of
true Jews. His true spiritual Israel. He's
the King of every Jew circumcised in the heart from among Jew and
Gentile. He's the King. He heard the gospel. But this man didn't have a great
degree of... had been taught a great degree
of doctrine. I'm not discrediting our need
to be taught true doctrine. We need true knowledge. And had this man come down off
the cross, I guarantee you this, this man, when he heard the doctrine
according to the scriptures, he would have believed. He would
have said, Amen. If you'd have preached to this man the doctrine
that God the Father blessed His people with all spiritual blessings
in heavenly places according as He chose us in Christ before
the foundation of the world, if you would have preached the
election of this man that salvation is by God's grace alone, choosing
whom He will, this man would have said amen. If you'd have
preached that it's the necessity we be born of the Holy Spirit
of God and given faith, it's all the gift of God, the salvation
a to z is by the author and finisher of faith, he'd have said amen.
How do you know that? I know it because he believed
on the Lord. And this is what Christ said.
He said, if any man will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine. What is His will? We saw what
His will is. His will is that you believe
on His Son. And when a man is brought to believe on Christ,
He knows all things. When you know Christ is all,
you know all. And then everything lines up.
Christ is the light, and all doctrine gets its light from
Christ. We won't understand anything until we're given an understanding,
a knowledge of Christ, that He is salvation. Then we'll begin
to see everything in this scripture makes, it all goes together. All the doctrine just fits together.
And here's what I'm saying to you. Here's what I'm saying,
as fatal as it is to reject true doctrine, it's just that fatal to make
a certain degree of knowledge necessary for salvation. It's
not your degree of knowledge that saves you. Christ is salvation. That's what I'm trying to show
you here. It wasn't His works, Christ did the works. It wasn't
His holiness, Christ is the holiness. It wasn't His knowledge, Christ
is the wisdom. Yea, doubtless Paul said, I count
all things lost but for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus
my Lord for whom I've suffered the loss of all things do count
them but done that I might win Christ be found in Him. the excellency
of the knowledge of Christ. This is what John said in 1 John
5, 20. We know that the Son of God has
come and has given us an understanding that we might know Him that is
true. And it's that we might know Him
that is the truth. He is the truth. He is the gospel. He said, and we're in Him that
is true, even in His Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God
and eternal life. It's Christ. This man believed
on Christ. He cast all his care on Christ. Nothing else, no one else, Christ
only. He said in verse 41 at the end,
he said, this man hath done nothing amiss. And he said to Jesus,
Lord, Remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom. He believed
Christ had done nothing amiss. Christ is the sinless substitute
of his people. He knew no sin. He had to be
sinless. He willingly He willingly presented
Himself the spotless Lamb of God and He made Him sin for us. He did that that we might be
made the righteousness of God in Him. But listen, He in Himself
knew no sin. He knew no sin. He owned Christ
as His Lord, as Messiah, as the King of kings and Lord of lords. He believed Christ had a kingdom
that's not of this world. He didn't believe Christ was
dying that day. He believed He was coming into
His kingdom. And He believed He was going
to receive His people into His kingdom. That's why He believed
on Him. He said, Lord, remember me. Remember me when thou comest
into thy kingdom. He just asked Him, remember me.
Just please remember me. This man's a mercy beggar. Now here's my third point. The
first thing I'm trying to show you is this man's condition is
he's guilty. He's a sinner. And then secondly,
he's totally helpless. And it wasn't his works, it wasn't
his holiness, it wasn't his degree of knowledge. This man had his
hands and his feet nailed to a cross. And here's what I'm
trying to tell you. Christ himself is salvation. He's salvation. Of God are you
in Christ Jesus, who God has made unto us wisdom, and righteousness,
and sanctification, and redemption. That is according as it's written,
he that glories, let him glory in the Lord. Christ said, I am
the way, the truth, and the life. No man comes to the Father but
by me. Christ declared to Nicodemus, sinners are saved by looking
to Christ. He said, just like Moses lifted
up the serpent in the wilderness and all the Lord told them to
do was look to that serpent. And he said, it's the same with
him. He said, he's going to be lifted
up on that cross and whosoever believes on him shall not perish
but shall have everlasting life. Christ is salvation. Christ is
salvation. Salvation never becomes more
or less than Christ himself. Is that too simple? We'll miss salvation. If it's anything else but Christ,
we'll miss salvation. If we've got to add something
of ourselves, we're missing Christ. The only thing this thief had
was Christ, but having Christ, he had all. And you have Christ,
you have all. Every sinner saved by the grace
of God is given exactly what this thief was given. The Lord
gave him faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. That's how every believer
is saved. Every sinner God saves is given
an understanding of just what this thief knew. He knew he was
the sinner. helpless, incapable of contributing
one thing to his salvation. That's what everybody God saved
knows. Everybody knows that. I am the
sinner. What did you contribute to your
salvation? I did the sinning. Didn't you contribute something?
I did the sinning. That's it. And I know this. Christ did the
saving. He's the Savior. Listen to Peter's
confession. Simon Peter answered and said,
Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. That was his
confession. And the Lord said, Blessed art
thou, Simon Barjona, for flesh and blood hath not revealed it
unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven. See, we don't even
believe on our own. It's given to us of God. He said
later, Lord, to whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal
life, and we believe and are sure Thou art that Christ, the
Son of the living God. That's saying just what this
thief said. Lord, remember me when you come into your kingdom.
Here was Nathanael's confession. Nathanael said, Rabbi, Thou art
the Son of God, Thou art the King of Israel. Where's this big, long, systematic
theology? You know Christ, you know all. This American woman, she said,
come see a man which told me all things that ever I did. Is
not this the Christ? Is not this the Messiah? He's
the salvation. The Ethiopian eunuch, he wanted
to be baptized and Philip said, if thou believest with all thine
heart, thou mayest. And he said, I believe that Jesus
Christ is the Son of God. Thomas saw him and he said, My
Lord and my God. This thief was a dying man. And in just a few moments he
would leave this world and he would enter into glory. And the
Lord saved him in those last few moments of his life. the
last few moments of his life. You'll see sinners and you'll
hear them say, well, it's too late for me. Or you'll hear somebody that has a loved one
that's run wild all their life and they think it's too late
for them. Well, it's too late for this thief on the cross. It's not too late for you either.
Anybody here that hadn't believed on the Lord, today's the day
of salvation. If you'll hear His voice today,
harden not your heart. This man confessed he was a sinner,
nothing else. That's it. This man declared
Christ to be sinless. This man's done nothing amiss.
This man's the righteousness of God. He's the holiness of
God. This man exhibited faith. He really had faith more than
any of the other apostles, if you think about it, because they
all believed that the Lord was going to establish an earthly
kingdom. This man knew it's not an earthly kingdom. And here's
something else. Those others, when everybody
turned thumbs down on Christ, they forsook Him. They took off.
They got out of there. This man owned him to be a savior
when everybody else had rejected him. We just won't hardly stand
with somebody when everybody rejects them. We like to go with
the crowd. This man believed Christ when
everybody rejected him. He cast all his care on Christ. He confessed Christ to be the
Lord of his kingdom, to be his Lord. And you know what happened? This man received an immediate
answer from the Lord. And you come to Christ and you
cast your care on Him. Now let me, I said at the beginning,
it doesn't matter if He's just drawing you to Him or if you've
been in the faith for years and years. When He brought you some
painful providence, and just like we saw Thursday, He's touched
your thigh, and He's made you to see you're helpless to save
yourself. What's the purpose? It's to show
you this same thing over again, that He alone is salvation. It's
to renew in you, to make you know He alone is your salvation. To bring you to do just what
this thief did. Confess, I'm the sinner. Lord,
remember me. Save me. And when He brings you there,
our Lord doesn't, He doesn't dilly-dally around and wait around
to see if you can meet some requirement. When you come asking for mercy,
He gives you a mercy immediately. When you ask forgiveness, He
lets you know you're forgiven immediately. Jesus said to him,
Verily I say unto thee, Today shalt thou be with me in paradise. There's no such thing as purgatory.
There's no such thing as some intermediate state. When you
die, Paul said to be absent from the bodies to be present with
the Lord. Christ is righteousness. That means He's life. He said,
He that believeth on me hath everlasting life. That's what
we learn here. He told Martha, he said, I'm
the resurrection and the life. He that believeth in me, though
he were dead, yet shall he live. Whosoever liveth and believeth
in me shall never die. Believest thou this? Here's Martha's
confession. She said, yes, Lord, I believe
that thou art the Christ, the Son of God, which is coming to
the world. Do you believe That that one
who hung on that cross is the Son of God, the Christ who came
into the world. He's salvation. He is salvation. And if you have him and you know
him, you know all and you have all. And God has saved you. You have everlasting life. That's
what he said. He that believeth on me hath
everlasting life. And somebody will hear this and
they'll say, well, he's trying to dumb down the gospel and just
make it simple. Let me tell you something. Here's
what I'm trying to tell you. If you add a hair to this other than Christ alone, you
will not be saved. That's what I'm saying. Christ
has got to be all. Christ alone. That's what I titled
this, Christ alone. Our gracious God and our Father,
we thank you for this word. Thank you, Lord, that you saved
this thief, our brother, this one you love from everlasting,
that you might show us, Lord, that with our hands and our feet
entirely bound Salvation's in a look. Salvation is believing
you and trusting you to do it all. Lord, would you give us
that faith? Would you increase that faith
in those that you've given it to? And Lord, don't let us ever,
ever add anything to what you are and what you've accomplished.
Help us, Lord, to trust you completely. In Christ's name we ask it. Amen.