If you will, turn with me and
your Bibles back to Luke chapter 23. Luke chapter 23. You're looking verses 39 through 43
this morning. I already read this to you. Verses 39 through 43. The title
of the message this morning, The Confession of a Thief. The
Confession of a Thief. As we have before us the Lord
being crucified, we know that every one of the gospel accounts
of this show us that Christ was crucified between two thieves,
two malefactors, two criminals. And Mark in his gospel even includes
that these thieves were crucified to the right and to the left
of Christ in fulfillment of Scripture. In Mark chapter 15 verse 27,
he says, And with Him they crucified two thieves, the one on the right
hand and the other on the left. And the Scripture was fulfilled
which saith, and He was numbered with the transgressors. That's
Isaiah 53.12. At this time, this scripture
was fulfilled. There he was, crucified between
two thieves, numbered among the transgressors. And this is a
very significant event, that the Lord was crucified between
these two thieves. These transgressors, these men,
are a wonderful picture to us of all men. of all men. Spurgeon said this
in one of his messages concerning the darkness that surrounded,
covered the whole earth at that time. Spurgeon said, the closer
we come to the cross, the more vivid the pictures of grace in
the salvation of sinners. You think of those lambs that
were slain, they were pictures. But how far away were they? They
were far away. They do just exactly what God
intended them to do. But every time you get closer
and to the cross, you see the more vivid picture of God's holiness,
God's justice, God's righteousness. You see sin. And friends, you
see redemption, salvation. Mercy. And grace. Friends, the first point I want
to make this morning is this. All men are thieves. Very simply. These two men are a picture of
you and me. We're the same. We're the same. From the newest of infants to
the most aged of sinners, all men are thieves by nature. Now friends, this is very offensive. to the religious men of our day. This is offensive. Pastor, you
mean that little babies are sinners? Well, they've not even had time
to commit sin. How can you call them thieves? How can you call them sinners?
They're so innocent. And they do this because the
natural mind believes all men are born good and you either
go one way or the other. That you're born good and you
either stay good or you turn evil. But what does God say? I don't care what they say. What
does God say? For all have sin. and comes short of the glory
of God. That's what God says. Wherefore,
as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin,
so death passed upon all men, for all have sinned. Do you mean
that baby sinned? Absolutely he sinned. He's born
a sinner. Born in original sin. And all men are like these thieves.
You're like this thief and I'm like these thieves. Because our
Father was a thief. Adam was a thief. God made Adam perfect and set
him in the perfect environment, gave him everything. He said,
you can have everything, Adam. It's all yours. I gave you every
tree to eat of. But one thing in this whole creation
belongs to me. And that's this tree. And the day you eat of this tree,
you'll die because that belongs to me. That's for my glory. People
say, well, why did God put it there? Because he wanted to.
It's God's creation. He made it. It's his. And he
has a right to demand what he will of his creatures. He said,
Adam, don't you eat it? It's mine. It wasn't long until
then that Satan came and deceived our mother. Deceived our mother. How did he do that? Questions. Questions concerning God, concerning
His Word. Hath God said, really? Is God
really saying that all men are sinners by nature, really? Is
that what He said? And the nice lady with the kind
heart, she said, You know, little babies aren't sinners. I got
you. If that's not true, then God
did not say this. It's not true. You shall not
surely die. How many times have we not known
something about God and been overzealous to defend the gospel
just to have it come back on us? Friends, we're not to add anything
to or take anything away, nor are we to ever apologize for
what God says. Never apologize for what God
says. Never try to defend God. Don't do that. Just tell people what God says.
I don't believe that. Sorry. That's what God says. I can't do anything for you.
What God says. You see, and when Eve ate, do
you notice that nothing changed? She ate. What happened? Why didn't she die? She wasn't the federal head.
Adam was. She was deceived. But Adam openly rebelled against
God. He open-faced rebelled against
God, not being deceived. He said, I will take that which
belongs to God, and I will have some of His glory for myself. And he ate. And when he did,
he died, and so did we. It's just not clearly seen in
the religions of men. Is it not plainly seen to you?
Is it not plainly seen when they... And you call it any name you
want to. I don't care what you put on the door. That doesn't
make a church what you put on the door. You can say you're
Baptist, independent Baptist, Southern Baptist, American Baptist. You can put Catholic on the door.
I don't care what you put on the door. It's what's being preached
that matters. If a man has some part, some infinitesimal part, some
small thing that he must do in order to obtain salvation, he
is a thief and a robber of the glory of God. A thief and a robber. If man has to do one thing to
be accepted or to add one thing to the offering of Christ, whether
it's obedience to the law, obedience to the church, or even if a man
has to exercise his free will, this is robbing God of His glory
and nothing else. Trying to take something that
belongs to God. Scripture says this, God says this, salvation
is of the Lord. What part do you have? None!
None. None. It's all of grace. All of grace. And so as both of these men were
guilty thieves, even so are all of us by nature guilty thieves,
because we all tried to rob God of His glory. We all did. Every one of us. Number two,
all men railed against Christ. These thieves railed against
Christ. Go to Mark chapter 15. Flip over
there to this account. Mark chapter 15 and verse 32. Let's go back to verse 31. It
says, Likewise, also the chief priests, mocking, said among
themselves with the scribes, He saved others, Himself He cannot
save. Let Christ, the King of Israel,
descend now from the cross, that we may see and believe. And they
which were crucified with Him reviled Him. They reviled Him. Who? Both of them. Both of them. They reviled Him. Think of this situation, friends.
They both were dying men. These men were convicted, vile
thieves, guilty. Condemned to the crucifixion
of the cross, which was the most violent execution reserved for
the most violent offenders. These men weren't purse snatchers. You think of somebody just snatched
an old lady's purse. That's not these guys. No. You
know Barabbas, right? Barabbas was set to be crucified
with these guys. These guys, no doubt, were part
of his crew of insurrection. These men were murderers and
thieves. They robbed men of their lives
and their livelihood. These were brutish men. These men were facing death and
they spit on Christ. They hated Him just as much as
everyone in the crowd. The difference between them and
everyone in the crowd, you know what? They were dying faster than everyone
else. They were dying faster. They
were running to hell as though it were heaven. And man, they
were on the last leg of the race. Is this not so man's nature to
revile the Lord of glory even when facing the wrath of God?
A man could hear about all of his sin. A man could hear about
all of his wickedness. He could hear how vile he is
before God. He can hear how dreadful God's
wrath is. He can hear about the judgment
of God. And he could even understand
it. But that will never stop a man
from reviling Christ or despising Christ. Never. You know, that
never changed the heart of man. Since the beginning of the world,
the law has never changed the heart of one sinner, not one. The law only speaks guilt and
guilt only stirs anger. at the law and at God that gave
it. It only stirs it. And all men have set themselves
against Christ and against His anointed, and they hate the sovereign
grace of God. As long as men cast away As long
as men will not cast away their self-righteousness and confess
themselves to be dead and reject their free will, works, religion,
they are haters of God. Don't let them fool you. They're
haters of God. Number three, I want us to see
a distinction. We see that all men by nature
are thieves. We see that all men are haters
of God by nature. Now then, I want us to see a
distinction among thieves. A distinction among thieves. Look at verse 39. And one of
the malefactors which were hanged railed on him, saying, If thou
be the Christ, save us and thyself. But the other answering rebuked
him. There's a distinction now, isn't
there? Something's different. They were both dying. They were
both condemned. They were both railing on Christ
and now something happened. The other guy continued to rail.
He didn't stop. He just continued on the same
way he was. But this other guy said, wait
a second, you need to stop that. What made a difference? What
was the distinction? In Luke's Gospel, we see this
clear distinction of these two men. Because God here makes a
difference in the life of this one and does nothing for the
other. One of these thieves will be
saved. And one of these thieves will
be left to die in his sins. This is because God from eternity
had chosen His people that He would save. He has chosen a people that He
would set His love on them and save them by the crucifixion
and death of His Son. And others He will leave in their
sins. Today, among us, listen to me,
it's a very small group we have here. I tell you this very plainly,
some of you God will save, and some of you He will leave to
yourself. Is God wrong for doing that? Has God wronged any man by being
sovereign to choose whom He will? Now, if all men were righteous,
I'd say, yeah, God would be wrong. Scott, if you were righteous
and God didn't choose you, then I could say clearly that God
would be unjust not to choose you. Why? Because you're righteous. Oh, but no man is righteous.
Because no man is righteous, because we're all thieves, because
we've all offended God. If God were to choose one and
to leave the other, He has done nothing to the one He left. He
has not done anything to him. He's not offended him in any
way. But yet, on the one, He showed
mercy. All that does is display God's
grace and mercy. Salvation is a display. It's
a display of God's glory. God's glory. You see, Jesus came
to call sinners to repentance, not righteous folk. If you're a self-righteous folk,
then you don't belong here. This church is for sinners. Because
Christ only came to save sinners. Sinners. Those are His people. Sinners. Thieves. Those are His
people. And Jesus came for the purpose
of dying to save them from their sins. To redeem them. You know, this thief had no idea
who Christ was. Christ knew who he was long before
he met him at the cross. Matter of fact, he came that
day to die that day for that thief, that thief. And I want you to notice this.
Look at this. Both of them wanted to be saved. Verse 39. If thou be the Christ, save thyself
and us. He wanted to be saved. Pastor, what if a man wants to
be saved and God didn't choose him? I tell you, every man wants
to be saved like this man. You see, this man didn't want
to be saved from guilt. This man wanted to be saved from
the consequences of his guilt. Who wants to go to hell? Who wants to? Who wants to go
there? No man wants to go to hell. Surely God saved me from
hell. Nope. Nope. That's your only cause to come
to Christ. I'm sorry for you. There's no hope there. Hell is
just the consequence of sin. And without the removal of sin,
you'll never have the removal of hell. And this thief wanted to be saved.
He said unto him, Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy
kingdom. This man wanted to be saved.
But you know what he wanted to be saved from? He wanted to be
saved from sin. Lord, we're dying, and we're
going to die. That's sure. But when we die,
Lord, remember me, forgive me of my sins, so that when I die,
I might find mercy. One sought to be taken from the
cross, one sought to be taken from his sin. This cruel thief, he had no idea
of what salvation was, nor did he have any idea of what it took
to be saved. This thief just wanted to be
saved. He didn't care what it took. The other one knew it took
something. Something more than he had to
give. Something more than he had to
give. Who made the difference? God did. God changed the will. Who maketh thee to differ from
another? Or what hast thou thou has not received? Did we not
make a difference in us believers in Christ? Did not God make the
difference in us? Did not God make the difference? Our salvation was only by the
sovereign will of God. As it is given by the Holy Spirit
of God to us. And if any man this morning,
if any person this morning will be saved, it must be by the power
of God. It must be. It must be. What did this thief confess?
What was the difference? What was the difference in the
confession? Well, first of all, we see that salvation is not
by some angelic revelation. This guy on the cross, he was
dying. There was no angel come down from heaven and gave him
some brilliant light that he had some amazing new knowledge. This wasn't some epiphany that
he had. Some last ditch effort at the
end. No, this man heard the gospel. Where did he hear it from? Right
there. He heard it when he was being
nailed to a cross. Look at verse 34. Listen to the gospel that Christ
told this thief. Listen very carefully. Father, forgive them. For they know not what they do.
There's the gospel. Let me ask you this. Was Christ
asking God to forgive them? No. He was demanding it. Who can demand God to forgive
sin? Only God could do that. He heard the gospel. He heard
that this was not just any man. This was God. This man is God. God. The Son of God. And second of
all, he heard the testimony of others. They said, hey, this
is the Christ, the Son of God. He saved others. Himself He cannot
save. This man's God. This man's God's
anointed Savior. He heard the gospel. He knew
that this man was God's Christ. And he heard this from the testimony
of other men. You think about that big sign
over the head of Christ. What was it? This is the King
of the Jews. All he had to do was look over.
There's the Gospel. There's the Word of God right
there above his head. He heard the testimony. He heard
the Gospel. And the confession of this thief is my confession. You see, I identify with this
man. I know this man. Because I am
this man. If you're saved by grace, you'll
identify with the confession of this man. This man confessed that Christ
was God. Look at our text. Look at your
text. Look at the rebuke that he gave
this other this other thief. Dost thou, not thou, fear?" Who? God. Who was this man rebuking? He
was rebuking Christ. He was railing on Christ. And
the other man looked over and said, Don't you fear God? He's
right there. Don't you fear God? Seeing you're
under condemnation. Don't you fear God? This man
confessed that Christ was God. Whosoever denieth the Son, the
same denieth the Father. But he that acknowledges the
Son also acknowledges the Father. Beloved, believe not every spirit,
but try the spirits, John says, whether they be of God. Because
many false prophets are gone into the world, whereby ye know
the Spirit of God. Every spirit that confesseth
that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God. And if they
don't, they're antichrist. Everyone that confesses that
Jesus Christ is not God is antichrist. This man confessed him to be
the son of God. Equal with the father and spirit,
do you? Do you see him? You've got to
understand this man was looking at a bloody mass of flesh next
to him. Christ didn't have no halo over
His head. He wasn't any different. The
only difference between Him and these thieves was He bled more.
He suffered more than they did. You couldn't see it by looking
at Him, but this man believed He was God. You know what? I've
never seen Christ physically, but I believe this. He is God
manifest in the flesh. I do. That's a confession of
a saved thief. Second of all, he confessed his
own guilt. Look at our text. But the other rebuked him, saying,
Dost thou not fear God, seeing thou art of the same condemnation?
And we indeed justly, for we receive the due reward of our
deeds. But this man had done nothing
amiss. He confessed his thievery. He confessed he was a sinner. Not that he did bad things. Not that he made a whole bunch
of mistakes. He didn't try to blame the other
thief for his death. He said, it's my sin. And if
God gives me what I deserve, this is exactly it. I deserve
to go to hell. Every sinner that sees who they
are must confess that they are fully sin. And if God sends me to hell,
he's going to do right. He's just doing right. Number three, he confessed that
Christ was sinless. This man had done nothing amiss. Even the enemies of Christ confessed
this. Pilate said, I don't find any
fault in this man. The Jews had to find false witnesses because
they couldn't find any fault. And friends, the enemies of Christ
hate Christ, even though they know this, he is the righteous
man. And because of that, they hate
him. They hate him because he is righteous. They hate me, Christ
said, without a cause. Do you know there was never a
time in the life of Christ where He had one sin? That He had sinned one time?
Not one sin! He was the sinless Son of God. And I tell you, as He hung there
on the cross, He never lost His sinless nature. Never. Never. He was still the spotless
Lamb of God. And this man confessed, this
man is sinless. This is the sinless man. A sinless
man. This guy did nothing amiss. He
did nothing to deserve this. Believer in Christ, we do believe
Christ is the sinner's substitute. We do believe that the sun was
darkened for three hours because there was a holy transaction
between God and His Son at which God imputed the sins of all of
His people to Christ. And Christ bore the guilt of
all the sins of all His people at that time. Yet, He remained
the sinless Son of God. He held fast His sinlessness,
didn't He? He said, My God, My God, why
hast Thou forsaken Me? You see, he believed God all
the way through. That sin never touched his righteous
nature. He never succumbed to the sin. Even though our sins were imputed
to him in his own body on the tree, he never succumbed to it.
He was a sinless man. He's a sinless man. The sinless
man who bore our sins. Now, if you understand that,
I want you to explain that to me later, but I don't need to understand
it. I believe it because God says it. It's God's word. Both are absolutely true. Both. And he confessed Christ to be
king. He said unto him, Lord, remember me when you come into
your kingdom. There is no true faith in Christ
unless he is both Lord and Savior. Again, we come back to that other
thief who wanted to be saved. You see, there's a lot of men
that want Jesus to be their Savior, but have no interest in Him being
their Lord. None. Well, I want Jesus to save me,
but, you know, really, do I have to come and listen? Really, do
I have to hear about Him again? You're kidding me. You mean I
have to love you? Really? I don't think so. I'll just take the salvation
part. You won't. If Christ is not your Lord, he's
not your Savior. And if he is not your Savior,
he is not your Lord. They must be both. You want to know who you believe,
who do you serve? Who do you serve? You? Do you serve you? Are you truly in the service
of a king? Because I don't ever remember a king asking us to
do anything. I remember our king telling us
what to do. Believe on me. Rest in me. Hear my word and do it. That's the voice of a king. And
that's my confession. Is your life spent in service
to the king? Or do you just play church? See, I'm not here to play. I'm here because I have a serious
message from a very serious God who has killed His own Son because
of my sin. And I serve a risen Savior who's
real. I know Him to be true and righteous and good, good to me. Because when I said, Lord, remember
me, when I confessed him, I know this, he confessed me. Truly, I say to Today, you shall be with me in paradise. What did this man have to look
forward to? What in the world did you think
he was thinking about tomorrow? Do you suppose he had any plans,
any hopes, any dreams past the next few hours? and neither should we. We should
have no hopes and no dreams that would ever interfere with our
love and gratitude to Christ. Never. And we know this, that when we
die, This is a promise to a thief. It's not promise to a righteous
man. The promise to a thief. Who saw
his righteousness in the bleeding substitute? Christ. Where would we be if there was
only the poem Paradise Lost? and not paradise restored. It'd
be a sad state. But friends, if we are in Christ,
we may rejoice. Whatever you think joy is, we
should rejoice more. Because our salvation is finished. And there's nothing left to do,
nothing left to do. When Christ died that day, where
was his body? In the tomb, where was the body and the garbage
dump somewhere? Where were they at? In heaven,
rejoicing. Forever, that's the hope and
confession of a thief, is that yours? Is that yours? If it is, it's good. I pray God
bless it. We'll stand and be dismissed.