All right, brethren, back to
Luke 23. This is a well-known passage, and
it's a great comfort for the children of God. Brother John
Newton wrote about this. He said, that dying thief rejoiced
to see that fountain in his day, and there may I, though vile
as he, wash all my sins away. This is personal, isn't it? Some
people have used this throughout time as a point of contention
on baptism. The Lord said, believe and be
baptized. And they said, well, see this
thief, he didn't have to be baptized. Well, no, but I ain't nailed
to a cross, are you? Or the Lord's table, we don't
have to take the Lord's table because this thief didn't, or
the 11th hour, of salvation, right that last second. Some
people have argued that this thief wouldn't even save and
that the Lord was asking him a question. He said, shalt thou
be with me today in paradise? There's a question mark. But
in my scriptures, there's not a question mark, there's a period.
And if the Lord was pleased to preserve his word throughout
time, I think he can handle a period or a question mark, can't he?
So let's not look for contention in this. If somebody comes at
you, just don't pay no attention to them. Go on. But let's look
for comfort. Let's not look for argument,
but for assurance. I don't want to look at controversy.
I want to look at charity. at the Lord's love, don't you?
I got three divisions, and I hope I'm quick with it. The first
one, I wanted to set the stage for you this morning, and what's
going on when, this is precious, this is really sweet to me, I
think it will be to you too. What's going on when this occurred?
What's happening? The context of it is fabulous. We need to know the context of
what the Lord's talking about, and we don't know what he's talking
about, we just know words. We don't understand. We have some
knowledge, but we don't understand it. Before we can get to context
of what is happening when this thief is saved, it's majestic. It truly is. And what then, we
get what's going on, what did happen, what did occur, and then
I want to ask just a couple questions at the end. It's what we call
a check on learning. But if we learn some stuff and
the Lord showed us some things, we can put two and two together,
can't we? gives us some understanding.
First, what's going on? When did this interaction of
this dying thief occur? When the Lord spoke to this,
he had words to say from that cross, and this dying thief said,
Remember me, Lord, when you come into your kingdom. What was going
on? This is an hour. That doesn't mean it's 60 minutes,
but this time, this time in creation and throughout eternity, this
hour, this is that very hour, this is what time it is when
this thief asks this, that all the Old Testament scriptures
point to, that all the pictures and the tops and the patterns
and all hanging there. on that Roman cross at this very
hour, this is Abel's lamb. That's hanging there, hanging
there. That's the Passover lamb, not one of the millions that
took place. This is the lamb, and this is him being sacrificed.
That's what's going on. During this hour, that's what's
happening. This is the one that Moses looked to, that Abraham
looked to. This is the atonement. The blood's
hanging in him right there. of all the pictures of all those
goats, and bulls, and sheep, and lambs, and the sprinkling,
and the hyssop, and all that, all throughout time. When they
sprinkled on the mercy, that's the mercy seat. It all pointed
to this hour. This is important. Do you think
it's important now? The Lord spoke about this hour all throughout
his life. He told his mother. It was at
a wedding, the first miracle ever performed in public, in
public ministry. She said, hey, they're out of
wine. And he said, woman, what have I to do with you? Mine hour's
not yet come. That's what he was, he was focused on this hour.
We ought to be focused on it. He spoke to his father, he prayed
to him in John 12, he said, now is my soul troubled. This is
a troubling hour. And what shall I say, Father,
save me from this hour? But for this cause came I to
this hour. This is why I'm here. God became a man pointing and
coming to this hour. Him being the sacrifice, Him
hanging on that cross. And Gethsemane said, Father,
the hour has come, glorify thy son. This is the glory of God
and this is the glory of son in this hour. He has glorified
him and he's glorifying him right now. Christ is being glorified
in this hour. That's what's going on. All those
pictures and talks pointed to this is the hour that when the
angel stood on that hillside, they spoke to those shepherds.
And they said, for unto you is born this day in the city of
David a Savior. This is him saving, which has crossed our Lord. This
is him there doing it. It's coming to fruition. It's
coming to pass. It's happening. What he said he's going to do,
he's doing. This is it. This can't be overemphasized. I need to get this. I need to
pound into my head. When our angel said to Moses,
he shall bring forth a son, or said to Joseph, shall bring forth
a son, thou shalt call his name Jesus, for he shall save his
people from their sins. He's doing it. That's actively
what's taking place in this time, as we call history. To us, time's
a thing. To the Lord, he is. We can't
wrap our heads around that. It's amazing. The hour that that
covenant of grace and mercy between the Father and the Son that deals
with a people, it's being fulfilled right there. This is an important
hour. And during this hour, there are
seven recorded things that Christ says from that cross in this
word. Some have said before, well,
he quoted the 22nd Psalm. I know what he told us he said.
He gave us this to know that he said these things, didn't
he? I know that. I don't need to speculate. He
told me, and that's enough. If he said it, it's enough. This gives us a glimpse at the
lordship of Christ. We see him as the mediator. He
cried from that cross, Father, forgive them for they know not
what they do. They didn't have enough sense
to ask the Father to forgive them. They just kept doing it.
We don't have enough sense. Whenever you was lost, did you
worry about being lost? I mean, I know a lot of people
that are very successful and they're really successful in
business or their job or whatever, you know, their occupation. And
they're very successful in family. They have, you know, happy families.
They're very successful in finance. They got all the finances squared
away. They're very successful in fitness. They stay in good
shape, get up early in the morning, work out and all that stuff. And then
as one of those pillars of total success, they find some type
of religion and say, well, I'll go church somewhere. I'm good
at everything else. I'll be good at this too. And
it's just something that's Paul said physical exercise profited
little, didn't it? He wasn't talking about doing
push-ups, but just going through the motions ain't gonna do too
good for you. We didn't even know to ask for
that mediation, and he said in this very hour, Father, forgive
them, they don't know what they're doing. Is that to those that
Peter's gonna preach to at Pentecost and the Lord's gonna prick their
hearts and save them? Yeah, and that's for us too.
I put him there. Now, what else you got going?
If the Lord shows us, if he shows me that it's because of me, he
hung on that cross, what brand of tires do I have on my car?
Who cares? What else is more? What else matters? Nothing. Not just him, right? Just him. He was our mediator.
Speaking from that cross, we read in John, he's our provider.
He's Jehovah Jireh. And the Lord saw Mary and John
sitting there, and that's his earthly mother and one of his
brethren. That's one of the apostles. And
he loved both of them, but he was leaving. She's going to be
all alone. He's going to be all alone. So
he provided for both of them. And he said, woman, behold thy
son. And he said to the disciple, behold thy mother. And from that
hour, that disciple took her to his own home. Y'all gonna
be without family. I'm your family, and I ain't
gonna physically be here, and you're gonna be lonely. So guess what? That's
your son now, and that's your mom. Now act like it. Y'all family. He provided for them. While providing,
he provided. You get that? While providing
as the lamb, he provided as the head of the household. as the
head of this body he was looking out for. Across our substitute
scene, he says, my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? Forsaken
of God. That's what I earned. That's
the death. That's the second death. That's
the wages of my work. When I punch my time clock, that's
what I'm owed. And he bore that. He was forsaken.
Why did he ask? He's asking so we would know.
He knew. He's been looking at this hour
since he showed up from eternity. He said, that's what I'm going
to do. I'm going to go die for them. I'm going to be forsaken of God for
them because they deserve to be forsaken of God. And they
can't fulfill it. My blood's going to be shed for them. And
man kind of argued, well, his soul didn't see corruption, but
did he go to hell? He separated from God. Isn't that hell enough? To see his majestic and to want
to be with him and to know him and then never be able to be
with him. I know that woman back there. I know these children. I know something about what it
means to not be with them. To work and not be around my
children. I left for a year. and I couldn't be with them.
We Zoomed some, or Skype, whatever it was back then. But that kind
of made it worse. I just wanted to hug them. I
didn't want the picture, I wanted them. I didn't want the video
conference, I wanted to hug them. Be in the same room as them.
Be with them. To be separated from that. The
father and the son are one. You talk about love. Boy, the
father looked at the son, he said, that's mine elect. Look
at him. I am well pleased in one thing, him. He says, unconditional
love ain't no such thing. Love's conditional. You want
the love of God, you'll be in Christ. It's conditioned on him,
on what he did, and his faithfulness and his fulfillment of all things.
And he said, that's who I'm happy with. And the son looked to the
father the whole time. The dreams he had, never a smirk,
never a sour thought, ever honoring the father the whole time. Isn't
that amazing? That's what's required of us.
And he did it. And he said, why have you forsaken
me? God teach us that, go learn what that means. Cause of me,
not cause of what? Man, thanks for anything we can
dream up or write down on a piece of paper, reading a book or theological
standpoint. Me, me, that's why I got forsaken. Martin Luther said, God forsaken
God, who can understand him? Who can weigh into that thing?
Are you weighed in that water? Christ, he spoke as the God man.
He said, I thirst from that cross. Here's the one that made the
tree that they hung him on. He put the iron ore in the ground
that they made the nails out of. And he made the water that
he thirsted for. And he said, I thirst. He could
have commanded that rain to come and quenched his thirst at any
minute. Why didn't he? Because as my representative
and as your representative, I can't. He's showing he's a man. The
appropriate substitute. That's like a camera can't make
it to a class and she has to get a substitute. Well, she can't
get a mechanic to go down there and teach math, can she? It ain't
the same. You can't get a giraffe to go
down and teach that class. We understand that. Well, for
that land to be provided, that sacrifice to be provided for
man, it has to be a man. And he says, you get thirsty.
He's not thirst. He's a man. This is the right
substitute. And he was the victor. He must
be tempted with that thirst, too. He must be tempted in all
points like we are. Have you ever been distracted
from work because he's thirsty? I don't drink till the end. That's
always precious to me. He said, I'm thirsty because
it works over. I'll drink water later. I got work to do. To me,
that's precious. He's got a hot sun. He's out
there in the sun, wasn't he? And he spoke as the victor, he said,
it's finished. There's a work, there's an hour
to come, there's a work to be done, and it's finished. Done. Complete. Over. Nothing to be
added to, nothing to be taken from. Work's done. Done. What was finished? What was finished? That's important, isn't it? All
the promises of God are finished. Complete in Him. All the prophecies
that it looked to, all the patterns and the pictures and the types,
all that, finished. What else? Our sin. Where'd it
go? It's gone. The Lord don't remember
it no more. How can the Lord that knows everything
can't forget? They didn't remember. There ain't nothing there to
remember. It's gone. It's finished. Now we still see it. We're still
alive in this body, ain't we? And we look, look at ourselves.
I got a mirror. I know what I think. I know what
I've done. I say that, I mean it. I let slip
this week, three people on this earth or five people on this
earth know something I did 20 years ago. This is the anniversary
of it. You wouldn't eat lunch with me.
He knows. And that's been put away. He
said, I don't know what you're talking about. Just like Ruth.
He said, boy, you did great. You take care of your mother-in-law.
I heard about that. I heard of what good things you've
done. She said, I begged to tag along is all I did. I just grabbed
ahold of her and wouldn't let go. And Bo said, that's fabulous. You did great. I heard all about
it. That's what the Lord, it's finished. Sin's put away. The
curse of the law, gone. He's been made a curse for us.
That covenant of works, it's fulfilled, all of it. Sin, death's
been accomplished. Hell's been overcome by Christ.
Being forsaken of God, what's important, is overcome by Him.
It's finished. The captain of our salvation,
the battle's over. War's done. It's finished. for
it became him for whom are all things and by whom are all things
and bringing many sons unto glory to make the captain of their
salvation perfect through sufferings. Sufferings of over suffering. If we see this, we can say with
Paul, these afflictions that we have are light. Now while
we're in it, boy, it hurts, and I ain't diminishing that. There's
things that people suffered in this room that I ain't never
lived through, and I hope I don't have to. But when we see what
we earned, the Lord ain't dealt with us according to our sins,
has he? That ain't so bad. And then we see what he paid
for us. What Christ suffered, what's
my sufferance? We don't even understand a lot
of afflictions, and but for a moment of a vapor, a few days, and it's
over. And the Lord allows us to know
He's things that gave us peace during that, and He sent the
trial to keep us, because He suffered. And He speaks
as our forerunner. He says, Father, into thy hands
I commend my spirit. Hebrews 6 says the forerunner
is for us entered. Jesus, made an high priest ever
after, forever after, after the order of Melchizedek. This is
that one. I don't have to be afraid of
death, because he's already been there. I don't have to be afraid
of what's going to take place and go into glory. It's going
to be different. I don't know what that's going
to be like. But he did it. He did it. And he says, I'm going
to come get you. I showed up at Basra, Iraq years ago. And
my friend was there, Kenny, Kenny Poe. And he got there before
me. He had been there for a couple weeks and that was my friend
and he cared for me and I cared for him And I hadn't seen Kenny
in a couple weeks. I missed him. We was just thick
as thieves just like brothers. I loved him and I showed up and
I was nervous and I thought where am I gonna stay? Where do we
get our bags? Well, where's the showers? Where's the bathroom?
I don't know how to do it. Where's the chow hall? How we
gonna eat? But Kenny was there. I Showed up boys. I thought well,
he'll at least tell me and There's two privates sitting there waiting
to carry my bags. I didn't have to carry a bag. He said, oh,
we already got you a plate of food in case you're hungry. We
didn't know what time he's coming in. Here, I got your room ready
where I got your linens drawn and all that stuff. Right there
is a shower house. Make sure you use that one on the left.
It's got hot water. The rest don't. They didn't plumb it right.
My friend looked after me. I get that. Now, you're going
to die. I'm going to die. I saw some weird clouds the other
day, and I thought we all might be going to glory right now.
I got excited. Do I need to be afraid of that? We will be, because
we ain't never done it. But our forerunner has went ahead.
He said, Father, I commend my spirit. This ain't just this
body, because I experienced pain in a body. He said, my soul's
in your hands. I'm coming to you. So whatever
that consists of, we have a friend that sticks closer than a brother
already there waiting. Everything's planned. Everything's took care
of, provided for. Now, knowing that, The Lord's
brought us to this field and made us hungry, and our faces
have hit the ground, and he's high and lifted up, and he's
already entered into it for us. It's all finished. He's mediated
for us. We say with Paul, don't we? Oh,
death, where's thy sting? God told me one time, someone
will kill you. That's the best thing you can do for me. Do me a favor. O grave, where is thy victory?
The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law.
But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through the Lord
Jesus Christ." He's our victor. He's our victory. He's our forerunner.
Now with all that going on, that's a lot going on, isn't it? Four
thousand years of prophecy. coming to pass, an eternity of
love and a covenant of grace manifesting itself. I mean, you
ever been doing something and your kids come to you and say,
hey, I'm busy, don't bother me. He's busy. I felt that, ain't
you? I hope this is a blessing to
you. This is what's going on. You ever went to pray about something
and you thought, I need to pray to the Lord about that. And then
you thought, I don't need to bother him. This is little. I don't need to go to the Lord.
Go to the Lord. We just sang it. There's so much peace that
we've just forfeited because we didn't go to God in prayer.
We just, we had peace. We just threw it away. I forfeit. Why? We didn't put our face in
the dirt and bow to him and seek his face. I've done it too. But
this will be precious with all that going on. It's an important
hour. Christ fulfilling as our mediator,
our provider, our substitute to God, man, the victor, and
our forerunner. In this very hour, two malefactors
are crucified with him. Two criminals. Criminals. Rome was a rough place, and these
were so rough, they said, kill them, they can't be here. These
are bad folks. Matthew records, both of them
mocked him. Both of them did. Likewise, also the chief priests
mocking with the scribes and elders saying he saved others
himself he cannot save. If he be the king of Israel,
let him come down now from the cross and we'll believe him.
He trusted in God, let him deliver him now. If he will have him,
for he said, I'm the son of God, that's thorough charges, isn't
it? And the thieves, plural also,
which were crucified with him, cast the same in his teeth. And
their teeth, they gnashed at him, just like it did Stephen.
Had come across their teeth, and if they could have retched
over and got him, they'd have bit him. They did the same thing, both of them.
Both of them talked for a while. For a while. But one became quiet. One kept talking, and the other
one finally shut up. And he was quiet before he spoke again.
Both cast their teeth at him, but one went silent for a little
bit. He was shut up to sin. Wouldn't that be nice? The Lord
gave us one mouth and two ears on purpose. If we could ever
get a person to be quiet, not talk, and just listen. To be
still and consider, the scriptures say. St. Thacker, this is the
Lord's word. Be still and know that I am God.
Let every mouth be stopped. Just stop talking. Stop talking.
We're at that farmer's market. Our nature is to not listen. born of Adam, we want to tell
what we know, and instead of hush, be instructed and listen,
be taught of God. That's our nature of Adam. We
don't want to hear what God has to say. We want everybody to hear what
we have to say. And I was down at that farmer's market, Kim
was working yesterday, and I said, well, I'll go sit with you. And
so we sat down there, and I got some guilty feeling. I thought,
boy, I just, I haven't, my hands to this plow, but I'm a horrible
servant. We should have got us easy up.
And we put a table down there for the church. and let them
know that we're here, getting this community. You're in this
community, and I'm in this community, and let's make it known. She
was saying, we want to let people know that this school's in Hamoul.
I don't have a tent down there saying, well, God has a field. Boaz got him a field here in
Hamoul. I felt guilty, and then I thought it through. Sometimes
you have ideas, and you're like, I'm going to do this. But over
the years, you mess up enough stuff. You know better than I
do. And you think it through. Like, how would that look? What
would that feel like? And then I thought, it'd be unprofitable.
All that be is a theological arguing ground. It'd be a battlefield
to go out there and argue doctrine over. People won't tell me what
they think. Somebody finds out I'm a pastor, first thing they
do is tell me what great faith they have or what soup kitchen
they work at. And she gets it just as bad as
I do. Oh, I'm sorry I said those things. Well, why? Am I different
now than I was five minutes ago? People want to have an open forum
or an area to speak what they want to say, not to hear what
God has to say. And it'd be unprofitable. But
that one was quiet, wasn't he? The other one kept yapping. One
was shut up. I don't know which of the Lord's
words that he spoke was used to pierce that thief's heart,
but after being quiet for a while, after hearing Christ speak for
a while, he finally spoke. It says in verse 40, Luke 23, verse 40, but the other
one answering rebuked him saying, does not thou fear God? seeing
that we are in the same condemnation. Don't you fear God? When did
this thief start fearing God? Maybe right then, 30 seconds
before that, I have no idea. Since he'd been on that cross,
somewhere between gnashing his teeth at Christ and now saying,
well, hold on, I'm gonna honor that one. I'm the one that's
dishonored, boy, and you are too. Why are you talking to him
like that? Well, you just said something about him. Yeah, I
know. Not now. Not now. God's done something.
Not, I've turned my life around. God showed his son to me. Something's
changed. Thus not thou fear God? God put
the fear of himself in that man. You know what that is? One, to be afraid. Two, to have
honor. Both of them are just right. What is that? That's the beginning of wisdom.
As Bill Keithley said, now you're getting smart. We think we're
so smart, don't we? Well, apart from Christ, apart
from looking at him and fearing God, we're idiots. Wisdom ain't
even come into the picture yet. We might know some stuff, but
it ain't wise. Hold on now. That's God. What we saying? That's beginning of wisdom. Now
he's getting smart. Now he's understanding something.
Dost not thou fear God, seeing thou art in the same condemnation? Me and you is the same. Don't you see we're all three
committed to the same punishment, the same sentence, but this man,
the Christ, he's sentenced on behalf of his people as our substitute.
Now this man, this thief that railed on Christ, he saw him
as a spotless lamb of God. Now, he may not have had those
words to tell you. He probably couldn't. He didn't quote the
scriptures. He had never read. John Gill hadn't been born yet.
He didn't know none of these things. He hadn't had any of
these experiences. But God had worked in him. He said, he ain't
like us. I'm the bad one. That's the sinless
one. I'm rich. He's holy. I'm a worm. I'm a
maggot. I'm filthy rags. That's God. That's God. He saw the spotless
Lamb of God, and he saw himself as THE sinner. Oh, I'm a sinner. Yeah, well, me, you, and everybody
else down at the prison. Are you THE sinner? Am I THE
sinner? It's personal, isn't it? Verse
41, And we indeed justly, for we receive the due reward of
our deeds. We earned a wage. We went to work that day. And
our payment? Death. That's all I am. That's the only paycheck I got
coming. Death. But this man hath done nothing
amiss. He ain't never missed the mark.
It's been nothing but bullseyes. I mean, not even a little bit. For God to punish the sin that
I am, to sentence me to separation from God is just its right. It's
my due reward. It's a fitting wage. But Christ
is without sin, and he's done nothing amiss. This thief, this worthy, this
one worthy of capital punishment looks to Christ and he's only
able to move his eyes and his tongue and he petitions. He asks
the Lord something. Verse 42, and he said unto Jesus,
Lord, Remember what Nicodemus and that
rich Iranian ruler came and said? Master? That's what Judas said
too, wasn't it? Master? Teacher? Teacher? My God and my Lord, this king,
the lordship of Christ, the kingship, this kinsman redeemer. Lord,
remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom, your king,
and you're gonna come to your kingdom. Period. He knows it. I want to have a
thought-provoking title, but not be provocative. You understand?
This is Christ's immigration policy. People want to talk about
immigration policy? Here it is. You want to be in
that kingdom? Lord, remember me. Just think about me. Remember
me, that's all I need. That don't sound like much, that's
everything. It really is. Well, I heard a
fellow traveling singer one time said, he said, I'll never forget
the day the Lord saved me. You just might. The Lord might
take your mind from you. You may not know your own name.
But if he remembers me, my brain don't matter. It can turn to
mush all at once. I'm in his hands, not my hands.
I'm in his memory, not my memory. Nothing's contingent on me, it's
all contingent on him. Now this fella knew something,
didn't he? Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom. When's that? Whenever you're
pleased. He didn't say, Lord, take these nails out of my arms
and my feet. Make him stop putting swords in my side. I know you,
and you've revealed yourself to me, and if I just have to
sit here and suffer for 45 days on this cross without dying,
that's fine too. But whenever you're good and ready, I will
be with you. I know that's my end state. Now
I have an expected end. I have a hope. Not a wish. I have hope and it's in you.
And I'll sit and wait. I'll sit and wait. Won't be long.
Won't be long. Just a minute. Just a vapor.
Just a hand breath. When we believe on the true and
living God, with God-given faith, He's our Lord. And that's not
an empty word, is it? Remember me, remember me. He
didn't say forgive my sins or pardon my inequities or give
me a mansion or forgive my unknown sins, Lord. He just said, think
on me. Think on me. We don't need to
experience experiences. We don't need to experience feelings
in this life. We need God to look our way and think on us
in that time of love, don't we? David said, when I consider thy
heavens, the works of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which
thou hast ordained, just walk out in creation. What is man that thou art mindful
of him? Why would you even think about
me? You know what Ruth asked? Why have I found grace in your
sight? Not I know how you love me, but I guess if I got time,
I love you, Lord. Oh, I see how I love you. You're everything.
How could you love a wretch like me? It's so, he has. He said so. It's still baffling,
isn't it? Good news is good news. Too good
to be true, isn't it? No, it's true. We just can't
wrap our minds around it. This thief was once, right before,
an enemy of God. And now he fears God. That's
beginning the wisdom. The thief only serves himself. And now
he has an acknowledgement of sin and he wants to warn others
because he sees the value of a soul. We see his confession of the
lordship of Christ. He says, you're not going to
stay dead and you'll come into your kingdom. And we see the
plea of mercy. Remember me, remember me. I don't know if he's keeping track.
We covered six statements from a cross. Here's the seventh. You get laboring at hour, all
that going on. The Lord ain't too busy. We think
too highly of our problems. If we think that too lowly of
him, No matter what's going on, cast your care on Him. Trust
Him. Believe Him. Look to Him. We've seen the mediator,
the provider, the substitute, the God-man, the victor, the
forerunner, and now the Savior. Verse 43, And Jesus said unto
him, Barely. Remember what that means? Truly.
And if God spoke, it is true. And if He's cautioning us to
say, I'm telling you the truth, well, we've got to pay attention.
Verily I say unto thee, today shalt thou be with me in paradise.
There's never been a person more hopeless than this man. What gospel would work for him?
Do or done? You gotta do something. You gotta
wash or work or witness or anything. You gotta be baptized. You have
to take the Lord's Supper. All he could do was look and
beg with mercy for his tongue. Old Ryder said he couldn't walk,
couldn't work, couldn't witness, couldn't wash, and he couldn't
wait. Well, that gives me a lot of
things to consider. Well, you go consider it all the way to
hell. Right there's a savior. Lord! Call on him right now. I called on him yesterday. Well,
today's a new day. Call him now. The Lord came to redeem sinners
that are helpless, hopeless, and desperate. Let's not forget
that. We all know we're helpless. We
all know we're hopeless. Let's not forget the Lord's people
are desperate people. And a lot of what's happening
on this tremendous hour, I want to ask you these things. Was
this man saved? I hope J.C. Ryle said, of all the saints
saved throughout history, Not one ever received so glorious
an assurance of his own salvation than this penitent thief." We
have a nature, I do too. We think, well, he didn't do
nothing. You think he wanted to? He probably couldn't even read. He didn't memorize any scriptures.
Nothing. And he said, Lord, remember me.
And he said, today, buddy, before the lights go out, me and you
are going to be in paradise together. What a thought. He's saved. There's a question. Is this man
saved? Yes. The answer is yes. Was this man saved by grace or
works? He never helped anybody. He never went to church. He never
was baptized, never taught a Sunday school class. All he did was
steal from people for himself. So is that works or grace? By
grace are you saved. Through faith he believed on
God. Christ gave him his faith to look to Christ. Not of works, lest any man should
boast. Will the newest, most feeble, small, itty-bitty, mustard-grain
amount of faith save? Or do you have to wait a little
bit longer? Do you have to go in front of
that system and get within a plurality of elders and then go through
a process and give it six months and all that until it matures
some? That man had never done anything,
had he? Never done nothing but cuss God, and he believed on
Christ right then. And he said, you're going to
be with me today. His knowledge and his understanding
was a person right there with him that never left him alone,
never would leave him alone. He knew that man hanging on a
cross was God Almighty in human flesh, and He could save to the
uttermost. He was related to Him. He was
able to, and maybe, just maybe, He just might be willing. Let's
wait. God might be willing. Let's wait,
and hush, and pray to Him. It just might be. Just like David
prayed that, didn't he, for his son? He said, well, what's wrong
with you? Your son died, now you're okay. You weren't okay
then. He said, well, it just might be, Lord, be merciful and
save him. And that's what that king in
Nineveh said, same thing, wouldn't it? Maybe God will justify himself and
be merciful to us at the same time. Maybe he'll justify us. Maybe he'll be merciful. He delights
to show mercy. He does, don't he? But that's
the attitude of which we come. We don't come demanding. You
said you like mercy, now you give it to me. No, no, that ain't
it. Lord, if you're willing. It's
your will, your will, and you saved to the uttermost. He knew
he was a sinner in need of mercy, and that the one that was able
was right there with him. What else do you need to know
other than Christ? For somebody to be wise, what do we need to
know other than Him? Nothing. Like I want to know
how to read. I'm not saying don't teach your children how to read,
okay? Chris Cunningham said that one
time. He said, if y'all gonna do something, ask your pastor first.
He said, now don't be a small child, and if you see a Snickers
wrapper out in the parking lot, say, well Chris didn't tell me
to pick it up. Let's have some sense. I want to do those things. I want to learn how to read better
and read him. I want to study. Prove his faith faithful. That's
what I want. But nothing's required and nothing's
more wonderful than knowing him. That's life. What's life eternal?
Knowing him. Will Christ save any sinner that
comes to him and beg for mercy? This one was blaspheming God
just moments ago. What more could we do that's
worse than that? Our proud, boastful, self-righteous selves thinking
we're right, just like him. He ain't no different than us,
is he? This man's too wicked to dwell
in Rome, so they killed him. But our Lord said, you can live
with me. Rome won't have you, but I will.
I'm a friend of sinners. I'll sit down and eat with them.
You can eat with me. If they won't eat with you, I'll eat with you.
Come here. For I'm not come to call righteous,
but sinners to repentance. Sinners are a rare thing. Can
God save a thief? Can he save a drunk? Can he save
a prostitute? Can he save a pedophile? Or worse, can he save a self-righteous
person that's caught up in religion thinking they're doing something
good for God? If he reveals himself to them, they shall be saved.
Period. If this man is saved, and he
is, is there any other way to be saved? All that going on in
this hour. And the Lord, while doing that,
while saving His people, He saved one of His people. This is the
method. There ain't no other way. If
I'm saved, if you're saved, if anyone else has ever been saved
or ever will be saved, it'll only be through the Lord Jesus
Christ. And it's gonna be His work of
doing it. It is. He's the author. That means He
wrote it. And He's the finisher. It means He writes the end of
it. of our faith, that saving faith. He authored it. He kept
it. One day it's going to go away. There's an end to it. There's
a finish to that faith, because we're going to see him as he
is. We're looking at him. Do you believe in the Redeemer?
There he is. He's right here with us. Made just like him. The same way this thief was saved,
looking to him is how we're saved. And if you're a sinner, look
to Christ. Beg for mercy, and maybe not today, but there'll
be a day you'll be with Him in glory. We'll be in that kingdom
forevermore. Amen.