I do love your pastor. We've
been friends a long time, Ed and McClay. I remember this time that Clay
was talking about. Clay and Gabe, they were good
buddies. And I was just watching two kids
is what I was doing. Just watching two kids, Greg
and Lord pleased to call them both to preach. For that I'm
thankful. I'm going to ask you to take
your Bibles and turn back to the passage that your pastor
read, Luke 23. The Lord's hour has come. And now he's going to be made
sin. He's going to bear the guilt
of his people. He's going to satisfy the law's
demand for justice. He's going to honor his father
that has sent him to finish the work by His obedient sacrifice
on the cross. And in His dying hour, He's going
to do that which Almighty God eternally purposed. He's going
to save one of His own. He's going to save one of His
elect. And the Spirit of God has been
pleased to move upon Luke and Matthew and Mark to pin this
account. Now, we've got a few minutes
here today, tonight, to consider a passage of Scripture that we've
considered so many times. And every time I consider this
passage of Scripture, That question that's asked by
that dying thief that we all know, Lord, when you enter into
your kingdom, would you remember me? Lord, would you think on me? There's two thieves. at Calvary, one on either side
of the Lord. And the scripture declares that
these two in Luke 23, these two malefactors in verse 32 was led
with him to be put to death. They walked just like the Lord
was walking And they went to the place, the scripture says
in verse 33, it was called Calvary, the place of the skull. And at that place, as was the
custom of the Roman government, they crucified the Lord of glory
and these two malefactors, one on either side of the Lord, one
on his right hand and one on the left. And then the Lord,
in verse 34, prayed. It says, Then said Jesus, Father, forgive them, for they know not
what they do. And they parted his raiment and
cast Lots. Now, when our Lord was praying, here's a question. For whom was
He praying? He said, Lord, forgive them.
Well, turn with me to John 17. I'll tell you exactly who He
was praying for. Forgive them. John 17. Our Lord, His high priestly prayer, He said in verse 1 and 2, these
words spake Jesus, lifted up his eyes to heaven and said,
Father, the hour has come. Glorify thy son that thy son
also may glorify thee. Make it evident, glorify, give
glory unto your son, your elect, your chosen, your lamb. Glorify your son as your Lamb,
that your Son may glorify you as the God of all grace, who's
chosen a people. As thou, verse 2, has given him
power over all flesh, he rules in the army of heaven and among
the inhabitants of the earth, and no man stays his hand. He
does as he will. You've given him power over all
flesh, that He should give eternal life to as many as thou hast
given Him. He's going to save His people.
He's going to save His people. He's got a people that the Father
gave Him before the foundation of the world entrusted them to
Him. Now here He is, and according
to John 10, 15, He's laying down His life for the sheep. He's going to die for His people.
And then he says in verse 8, For I have given unto them the
words which thou gavest me, and they received them, and have
known surely that I came out from thee, and they have believed
that thou didst send me. Now here's who he's praying for
when he prayed from the cross, Father forgive them. Here's the
them. I pray, verse 9, for them, I
pray not for the world, but for them which thou hast given me,
for they are thines. When he said back in Luke 23,
Father, verse 34, forgive them for they know not what they do. Now there was two thieves, one
on either side of the Lord, And these two thieves were dug out
of the same pit, pit of despair, depravity, sin. They were both guilty. There
wasn't an ounce of difference in their guilt before God. And both of them were worthy
of death, just like all of us here. There's none without sin. We're all guilty. There's none
righteous. Not one. And both of them are
getting ready to die physically. They're going to die. They're
going to die real soon because now they're hanging upon a cross
and death is going to be sure. But the scripture reveals something
that's very different about these two. One of them was an object
of God's mercy. One of them the Lord had everlastingly
known. One of them, the Lord has eternally
stood as surety and will make good on the promise, I will finish
the work. This is the will of Him that
sent me, that of all that He's given me, I should lose nothing,
nothing. And here are these two thieves, The only difference between them
is the grace of God. That's it. Not an ounce of difference. The scripture declares in verse
39, one of the malefactors which were hanged railed on him, saying,
if thou be Christ, save thyself and us. Now there were three
things revealed in that first thief's comments, three things. Number one, he didn't believe
the Lord to be the Christ. If thou be Christ, if you are
who you say you are, if you're the Messiah, if you're God-man,
if you're the God-man, If you be Christ, you know John
8.24 says this, for if you believe not that I am He, you shall die in your sins. True faith believes that God
has come in the flesh. True faith believes that He's
going to save His people. Did He come to save me? That's
what I want to know. If you be the Christ, if you
be the Christ, save thyself. Now here was the
second thing that I noticed in this. If you be the Christ, save
yourself. This thief saw no need of a substitute. If you're the Christ, save yourself. He was blind to the necessity
of the Lord's death as the atonement for our sins, for the sins of
his people. He must die. Without the shedding
of blood, Bruce, there's no remission. There's none. If thou be the
Christ, save thyself. If you're the Christ, save yourself
and save us. This man had no regard for justice,
no regard for God's law, no need Did he see for God to punish
sin? And if the Lord didn't die at
Calvary, if I didn't die with Him, in Him, as Paul says, I
did, He did, then I'm still under the just due of my sin. If you're
the Christ, save yourself. If you're the Christ, don't die.
You're the Christ, save us. But there was another thief there. And by the grace of God, there
was quite a different conversation. Not anything that he had in himself
to glory. He was a guilty sinner, just
like the first. But the Spirit of God was pleased
to half-pinned, a marvelous work of grace. God had brought a work
of grace in the heart of one of these men. How do we know? Because out of the abundance
of the heart, the mouth speaketh. What happened? I want you to
take your Bibles, hold your place right here. Turn to Jeremiah
31. Jeremiah 31. We're going to just consider
for a moment what this other thief had to say. Jeremiah 31,
33 says this, But this shall be the covenant
that I will make with the house of Israel. After those days,
saith the Lord, I will put my law in their inward parts and
write it in their hearts. and will be their God, and they
shall be my people." Now this thief had a difference of attitude. He was just as guilty as the
other. Death was his deal just like
the other. He's going to die just like the
other. Scripture says that this thief had been just like the
other one. He'd railed on the Lord just
like the other one had. But now he's got a different
speech about him. He's got a different attitude.
His thoughts are expressed out of his heart. Why? What happened? Was it just that
he just He got smarter. He just realized, I better change
something. Turn to Ezekiel 36. Ezekiel 36. Here's what's going
to have to happen. Before a hell-deserving sinner,
a rebel against God, all of us by nature, this is what's going
to have to happen. Ezekiel 36. Look at verse 24
to 27. I was going over these verses
a few minutes ago, Fred, before we got over here, and I was just
looking at what happened. You know, what the Lord says is happening,
and what happened between these two thieves. Both of them, both
of them, both of them guilty. Both of them were railing on
the Lord. Here's what the Lord says He's going to do. Ezekiel
36, 24, for I will take you from among the heathen, I was thinking, we're all heathens
by nature. The Lord said, I'm going to take you out from among
them. And a believer will say, I know
what I am by nature. For me to be standing right here
in this pulpit, I was thinking just a moment ago, who's sufficient
for these things? Bruce, you're getting ready to
have to come up here. You think just like I do. Who's sufficient
for these things? I'll take you from among the
heathen. I'll gather you out from all countries. I'm going
to bring you into your own land. Then I'll sprinkle clean water
upon you. I'm going to wash you in the
blood of my Son. And you shall be clean. You'll
be clean from all your filthiness. And from all your idols will
I cleanse you. A new heart also will I give
you. A new spirit will I put in you.
And I'll take away the stony heart out of your flesh and I'll
give you a heart of flesh. And I'll put my spirit within
you and cause you to walk in my statutes. And you shall keep
my judgments and do them. Back in Luke 23. This other thief That was doing just exactly what
the one that told the Lord. If you're the Christ, save yourself
and us. You know what we do by nature?
We think we have the right to dictate to the Lord what we think
you ought to do. If you're the Christ, I'll tell
you how you can prove it. You save yourself. You save us
too. And by the grace of God, the
Lord who said in Ezekiel 36 exactly what He was going to do, did
something for this other malefactor. And all of a sudden, by the grace
of God, verse 40, but the other answering rebuked Him saying,
Does not thou fear God, seeing thou art in the same condemnation? And we justly, for we receive
the due reward of our deeds, but this man hath done nothing
amiss. Oh, we were all ruined in the
fall. Only by the grace of God will
we ever confess that, what we are. Don't you fear God? I hear this man dying. Now you talk about dying grace,
dying grace. Brother Clay was just mentioning
Brother D. Parks. Every time I'd call Dee
up and talk to him. You know, we always want to call
someone when they're going through some real trials and we're going
to try to be an encouragement to him. Call somebody that knows God.
That's getting ready to leave this world. And you talk to them and listen
to what they say. And listen to the spirit in which
it's said. And I'm going to tell you right
now, it's only by the grace of God, I know that. But I'm telling
you, to be able to come to the end of life and to behold the
miracle of the surety of the Word of the Lord when He said,
I will never leave you. I'll never forsake you. This thief hanging there, rebuke
him. Don't you fear God? We're in sane condemnation and
we're getting exactly what we deserve. This malefactor, by
the grace of God, boldly confessed the Lord. Do you know who you're
talking to? Don't you fear God? He rebuked
that thief. He rebuked him. The Lord says,
come out from among them. Be separate. We're getting what
we deserve. We're getting exactly what we
deserve because we're guilty and we're going to meet God.
Have you no respect? This man has done nothing. This
man's innocent. Here he was bearing the sin of
his people. He was made sin. He was not a sinner. I'm going to repeat that one,
Clay. He was not made a sinner. He was not made a sinner. He was made sin. You know what
a sinner is? a disobedient one. By one man's
disobedience, many were made sinners. The Lord Jesus Christ,
He said, I lay down my life. Obediently lay down His life. We indeed justly get what we're
getting. We received the just due of our reward. These deeds,
this man's done nothing. And the scripture says, and he
said unto Jesus, Lord, now he's just admitted, we're
getting just exactly what we deserve. I did it. I was caught. I was convicted. And now I'm
getting just exactly what I deserve. And I think concerning me, I'm
just going to speak for me right here. I've told the folks there
at home before many times, if you only knew the real me. I think back on me and I look
at me right now and Greg right now. If I got exactly what I
deserved, I'd be cast out if I got what
I deserved. And here's a dying thief, and
he's got one hope. He's got one hope. And it's not his free will. It's not his works of righteousness. Lord, Lord, would you remember me?
I'm guilty. I'm guilty. And you're the Lord. And you're dying for sinners.
And I'm a sinner. Lord, when you come into your
kingdom, Lord, would you remember this
hell-deserving sinner This thief pled no merit. I don't have any merit. Lord, I have nothing. I have nothing. And if you don't show mercy to
me, I'm gone. I'm leaving this world. Lord,
you're the Lord. You're the King. I'm guilty, deserving death and
judgment. Oh, but by the grace of God,
he was made to know his need of Christ. And by faith that was given from
above, it's given unto you to believe. We're not born with
it. The scripture says in John 6.37,
now listen to this promise. He that cometh to me. I think, how much longer did
this guy have? I don't know. But obviously it wasn't long.
But he came to the Lord by faith. How does somebody come to the
Lord? I tell them, I say, don't come down to the front. The only
difference between me and you, Clay, is about, I'd say, 10 feet
maybe. 11. Fred? 20. There's nothing between me and
you but carpet. Don't come to the altar or whatever. It's just
built up wood. Don't come to this pulpit, it's
wood. Come to Christ. How does a man
come to Christ? I'll tell you the only way I
know how, by faith. If Almighty God gives you heart
to call upon Him in mercy. It's by the grace of God. And
Him that cometh to me. Now listen to these words. I
will in no wise. Think of all the reasons why
He shouldn't receive you. Him that cometh to me, I will
in no wise. Yeah, but you don't know what
I've done. I will in no wise Yeah, but you don't know what
I'm thinking right now. You don't know the things that I've thought,
things that I've said since I was converted. I will in no wise cast out. Now that's some hope. That's
some hope because of who's saying it. No one but the Lord. Now these are those that Christ
saves. Just like this guilty thief,
this guilty sinner. Not those that can help themselves.
He was not going to help himself. He was not coming down off that
cross. He's bound to that cross. And
those Roman soldiers right there are going to make sure of that. Here's the ones that God saves. Those that need him. Those that cannot save themselves. I can tell you for a fact, you
can't save yourself. You can't honor the law. You
can't satisfy justice. were sinners. And the Lord draws
them to himself. How does he do that? Well, back
in Ezekiel, I'm going to give you a new heart. I'm going to
remove a heart of stone. And sin is not going to have
dominion. Is the presence of sin still going to be there?
Absolutely. Read Romans 7. Paul was talking about two men
and they were both him. I see in me It is in my flesh
that dwelleth no good thing. The will is present with me,
but how to accomplish that which I would, I find not. Those that need Him, those that
need Him, those that have no other hope, there's no other
avenue. The Lord said, I am the way.
I'm the way. I'm the truth. I'm the life.
No man comes to the Father but by me. That needy sinner cried, Lord, remember me. I think about that
song. While on others thou art calling,
Lord, don't pass me by. Lord, you've got a people and
you're going to save your people. Would you save me? Lord, would
you remember me? Listen to the words of our Lord.
Verse 43, And Jesus said unto him, Verily, truly, you can die
with these words. That's what he's saying. Verily,
I say unto thee. You think about who's talking
now. I say to you, now I'm telling you this, today, today, shalt thou be with me in paradise. Glenda and I was talking, coming
over here, talking about paradise. Eye hath not seen, ear hath not
heard, neither hath entered into the heart of man that which God
has prepared for those that love Him. Paradise. You can go ahead
and try to figure it out if you want to. Y'all go ahead and think
about it if you want to. But I hath not seen, ear heard,
neither hath entered into the heart of man. You never thought
of it. You can't do it. You can't. You can't do it. That was God.
Today, you're going to be with me. You know, that's words that a sinner can
die with, Bruce. John 6, 47, Verily, verily, I
say unto you, He that believeth on me, Lord, I believe, help thou mine
unbelief. Lord, I want to remember you.
I want you to remember me. I want to believe you. Lord,
I believe you. Lord, help me to believe you.
Lord, I believe you saved me. Lord, would you save me? Lord,
I come to you. Lord, I want to come to you.
Him that cometh. I think about when people say,
well, I came to the Lord, you know, I came to the Lord when
I was 17. You know when a believer comes to the Lord? Right now. Right now. Those that know Him,
come to Him. And they keep coming to Him.
And they keep coming to Him. This thief was made to see the Lord. God gave him eyes to see, ears
to hear, a heart to believe. If I'd sum up this message, you
know what I'd say? Salvation is of the Lord. I pray
God bless this to our hearts for Christ's sake. Amen. Okay.