It is not that I did choose thee,
Lord, for Lord, that could not be. Yuba-Sutter Grace Church
would like to invite you to listen to a sermon by our pastor, Rick
Warda. We currently meet at the Yuba
County Library, located at 303 2nd Street in downtown Marysville,
California, on the corner of 2nd and C Street. Weekly services
are held on Sunday at 11 a.m. at the library. For more information,
visit our website at ysgracechurch.com. Now here's our pastor, Rick Warda. The scripture for our sermon
today is found in Luke chapter 23, verses 34 through 43. Let's read it together. Then
said Jesus, Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do,
and they parted his raiment, and cast lots, and 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 Christ, save
thyself and us. But the other, answering, rebuked
him, saying, Don't you 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 to Jesus, Lord, remember
me when thou comest into thy kingdom. And Jesus said to him,
Verily I say unto thee, Today shalt thou be with me in Paradise. I have entitled this message,
Remember Me. The scriptural account of Christ
saving the thief on the cross is unparalleled. It is the most
endearing account of saving grace in all of scripture. In his dying
hour, Christ saved a thief in his dying hour. Scripture records
this so that no sinner might despair that his sin is too great
for the Lord to save him. It is never too late to flee
to Christ and look to Him, to be saved by Him alone. Yet in
this account, the Lord warns proud man, because the Lord saved
only one thief. Because the Lord saved only one
thief, no sinner may presume in false hope that God owes him
salvation as an entitlement or that he will escape the due reward
of his sins because God is too merciful to punish man for his
sins. The unbelieving thief made that
mistake. He blasphemed God by telling
the Son of God to prove he was Christ by saving him from the
judgment he deserved. that thief propagated the devil's
own temptation. When he died in his proud, hard
heart of unbelief, he proved himself to be the devil's son.
Therefore, in this scripture, we clearly see that God's mercy
to sinners is His own sovereign prerogative. God said to Moses,
I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion
on whom I will have compassion. So then it is not of him that
willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy. To this sovereign God every sinner
must bow. And for Christ's sovereign mercy,
every believing sinner will find eternal days too short to praise
Him for His saving grace. There are three lessons taught
in this scripture, and I pray that we would all learn them.
These are three lessons from the cross of Christ. The first
lesson of the cross is our own sinfulness and our great need
of God's mercy in Christ. The second lesson of the cross
is that God saves sinners by His grace alone. By His grace,
He saves even the worst of men. And the third lesson of the cross
is the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. Scripture says that everything
we need to know we learn from the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. The Apostle Peter said, by his
divine power he hath given to us all things that pertain unto
life and godliness through the knowledge of him, of our Lord
Jesus Christ. Let us therefore consider each
of these lessons in turn. First, by the first thief, God
teaches us our sinfulness and our great need of his mercy in
Christ. The scripture in Luke 23 reads,
One of the malefactors, the criminals, which were hanged with him, railed
on Jesus, saying, If thou be Christ, save thyself and us. The word railed means blaspheme. You cannot blaspheme a man. To
blaspheme means to speak against God. Therefore, when the first
thief spoke against Jesus, he spoke against God. He blasphemed
God, for Jesus is the Son of God. The Son of God is God over
all. In John 10, Jesus asked the unbelieving
Jews why they accused Him of blasphemy for saying, I am the
Son of God. Since He did the works of His
Father, it should have been clear to them that He was the Son of
God. The Jews understood that the
Son of God is God over all, one with the Father and the Spirit.
Therefore, the Jews rightly understood that any claim to be the Son
of God was a claim to be God. In Titus chapter 3, the Apostle
Paul first refers to God our Savior in verse 4, and then in
verse 6 he says Jesus Christ our Savior. He equates these
two as one, God our Savior and Jesus Christ our Savior, because
Jesus Christ is our God and Savior. Because Jesus Christ is the Son
of God, He is God over all, our Savior. That is why, when the
second thief believed Christ, he rebuked the first thief, saying,
Don't you fear God? But in this blaspheming, unbelieving,
proud sinner, we see our own sinfulness by nature. This man
was not afraid to speak against the Son of God, the very one
he would soon face in eternal judgment. Do you want to understand
something of your own heart? Do you want to see your own sinfulness? Then listen and see how this
man, with the crowd, treated the Son of God, the Lord of Glory. How sinful is man? How sinful
is my own heart by nature? Look at this thief. God holds
him up as a mirror to see ourselves, that we might know our frightful
condition and go to Christ for mercy. By nature, we are equally
sinful as He. God sets this thief before us
to rebuke us with Him, because in ourselves, by nature, we do
not fear God. Because we do not fear God, we
do not worship Him. We madly rush to our own destruction,
even opposing our own salvation. The Apostle Paul said, men oppose
their own salvation unless God turns them from the hardness
of their unbelief to Christ. Because we do not believe God's
record of ourselves and God's record of Christ, we will not
call on Christ to save us, even when we face eternal judgment,
even if, as this man did, we die on a cross next to the Lamb
of God. This thief represents every one
of us by nature. He is you and he is me. God's
Word is not given to us so that we can compare ourselves to others,
to find ourselves to be better than they. God's Word was not
written for that other man. It was written to me and to you. God's Word is given to each one
of us to expose us as guilty, as guilty as the worst of men. And it is given to us to exalt
Christ because He alone is good. He is the only righteous man
God will accept on the basis of His own personal obedience.
To underscore this truth, the Apostle Paul, in light of the
sin of both Jews and Gentiles, asked this question. He said,
What then? Are we better than they? No,
in no wise. Romans 3 verse 9. The best of
men is no better than the worst of sinners in the sight of God.
According to God's word, there is none righteous. No, not one. There is none that understandeth. There is none that seeketh after
God. They are all gone out of the
way. They are together become unprofitable. There is none that doeth good.
No, not one. Romans 3 verse 10 through 12.
This first thief hardened himself against every testimony God gave
of his son. In denying God's testimony, he
made God a liar. Though guilty, though justly
condemned, though dying and facing eternity and eternity's judge,
he blasphemed and rejected Christ before whom he would soon stand
as his judge. He opposed his own salvation.
This man is a mirror to us. God holds him up that we might
see ourselves. God draws the conclusion for
us. Of every one of us, what we are by nature, God says as
the rebuke of the believing thief said to this man, there is no
fear of God before their eyes. Romans 3 verse 12. Apart from
God's grace in Christ, men will not repent. Solomon said, though
thou shouldest bray a fool in a mortar among wheat with a pestle,
yet will not his foolishness depart from him. Proverbs 27,
22. Scripture proves that men will
not repent even though God brings upon them the judgment their
sins deserve. Revelation 16, verses 9 and 11.
God's justice never turns a sinner. Only grace can turn a sinner. Yet even when Christ is declared
to sinners in the Gospel, that word will not alter the course
of an unbeliever unless God opens their heart Unless God removes
our stony heart and puts a heart of flesh in its place, we will
not and we cannot believe. None turn, but those the Lord
turns. None believe, but those to whom
God gives faith by His grace. None call, but those God calls
to life by His Spirit of grace. Did you notice how this man based
his blasphemy on the premise that Christ saves? He said, if
thou be Christ, save thyself and us. He admitted that he knew
Christ is God's Savior, yet he showed no interest in his own
salvation from sin and from the wrath of God. He did not believe
Jesus was Christ, and therefore he did not call upon Him as Lord.
You see, salvation is a rescue mission. God does all when men
are guilty and oppose their own salvation. God saves by His grace
alone. God cannot find anything in you
or me, nor does He look for anything from us. He looks to Christ alone
and teaches sinners to do the same. In this man, we see that
no man will turn, no man will believe, no man will bow to Christ
apart from His grace. He heard the testimony of the
people. They told how Jesus said, I am the Son of God. He heard
them say, He trusted in God. He heard them say, He saved others. He heard the rebuke of his fellow
thief, a believing sinner, and heard that sinner call on Christ. He even heard Jesus pray to his
Father as the one mediator between God and men, the high priest
who offered himself as the Lamb of God. He heard Him make intercession
to God for transgressors, His very enemies. He saw Jesus give
Himself to shame and spitting the most cruel treatment and
mocking imaginable. He saw them crucify Him, and
He saw Christ submit to it all willingly. This man heard no
vengeance from Christ against his murderers. He only saw his
quiet submission in obedience to God. When sinners contradicted
Jesus, when he was reviled, he did not strike back and revile
in return. He did not condemn, but he prayed
for his own. But though this dying man saw
Christ with physical eyes, though he heard the testimony of God
concerning his Son with physical ears, though he died next to
the Lamb of God, dying in his sins, facing eternal judgment,
yet this man remained hardened in his unbelief. Now when we
consider this man in his hardened unbelief and opposition to Christ,
we naturally judge him. But realize this, the lesson
taught here is meant to cast the light of the cross on each
one of us. This is what we are by nature. This is how God sees us outside
of Christ. This is what we are, what we
have done, and what we will do unless the Lord rescues us from
ourselves. Scripture warns sinners who hear
the gospel, let us therefore fear, lest a promise be left
us of entering into His eternal salvation, His rest. Any of you,
both me and you who hear me, should seem to come short of
that promise. Do you want to know your own
great need of God's sovereign mercy? Then see yourself in this
hardened, unbelieving, blaspheming thief as he dies next to the
Son of God. He heard Jesus make intercession
for transgressors, yet he never prayed to Him. He heard that
Jesus is the Son of God, yet he never bowed to worship Him.
He heard that Jesus is the Savior, yet he never believed on Him.
Therefore, the first lesson of the cross is our great sin, our
just condemnation, and the sinfulness of our nature. This lesson teaches
us our great need for God's mercy in Christ. Unless God in His
mercy does all for us in Christ, by His grace we cannot be saved. O sinner, flee to Christ. Now the second lesson of the
cross is that God saves sinners by His sovereign grace. No sinner
should despair because of his own foolish, proud rebellion
and unbelief. Every sinner on hearing the gospel
should flee to Christ as this man did. The Lord saved this
man in his dying hour. If we look for some reason in
ourselves for God to save us, we are blind and ignorant of
our sin and of God's holy nature. And if we find something in ourselves
that would give us reason why God saved us, we have found a
lie. The reason for grace is found
in Christ alone. This fact, when believed, makes
God's sovereignty and salvation the sinner's only confidence,
all of his hope and his great joy. If God does not save me
by his will alone, for his grace alone, because of Christ alone,
then I have no hope. But because God does save, without
consideration of my good works, for I have none, or my sin, for
it is His glory to make satisfaction for sins in the blood of His
Son, and cleanse sinners by the blood of Christ, therefore I,
who am a great sinner, find Christ to be all of my salvation." In
this scripture we see two men. Both heard and saw the same things. Both died next to the Lamb of
God. Both heard Christ's words. Both saw Him give Himself to
shame and spitting. Both saw Him submit to mocking
and cruelty without replying in anger or vengeance. Both heard
and saw that He trusted God under the grossest injustice from the
worst of men. but one believed. To all onlookers,
Jesus died in weakness. But to the eye of God-given faith,
the Lord Jesus overcame sin and death and the devil. With the
power only the King of Glory possessed, only the power the
Lamb of God could exert in His substitutionary, sin-atoning
death. None turn, but those God turns. Jeremiah the prophet said, Surely
after that I was turned, I repented, and after that I was instructed,
I smote upon my thigh. The apostle Paul told Timothy
to instruct those that oppose themselves if God, per adventure,
will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth.
None turn, but those that God turns. And none believe, but
those to whom God gives faith. Understand this, faith is not
the cause of our salvation, it is the result of it. Jesus said,
he that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me,
hath everlasting life. John 5, 24. If we believe, it
is because we have already passed from death to life. If we believe,
it is because we were ordained to eternal life. Acts 13, verse
48. If we believe, it is because
God gave faith to us out of His grace. Ephesians 2, 8, and 9
says, For by grace are you saved through faith And that not of
yourselves, it is the gift of God, not of works, lest any man
should boast. In the book of Acts, it says
that Paul helped those who believed through grace. They believed
through God's grace. And Jesus said, no man can come
to me except the Father which has sent me draw him. Jesus told
his disciples, to you it is given to know the mysteries of the
kingdom of heaven. None turn, but those the Lord
turns. None believe, but those to whom
the Lord gives faith. And none call, but those the
Lord calls to life by the Spirit of His grace. Peter told the
Jews, the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to
all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall
call. When God saves a sinner, He causes
him to hear the gospel and produces faith in his heart by his spirit. Faith is God's gift. No man has
it by nature. God has concluded all men in
unbelief. Romans 11, verse 32. Faith is
not given to all men. 2 Thessalonians 3.2 God gives
faith to his elect. Titus 1.1 calls it the faith
of God's elect. This man believed Christ because
he heard the word of God. But what did this man hear? What
did he believe? He heard the truth about Jesus.
He heard that Jesus said, I am the Son of God. He heard them
say he was Christ, the chosen of God. The unbelieving crowd
admitted that Jesus trusted in God. They admitted he saved others. Now, to all onlooking physical
eyes, Jesus died in weakness. But incredibly, to the eyes of
this man's unparalleled God-given faith, Jesus, dying on the cross,
was the Lord of all, the King of heaven, who would overcome
sin and death and the devil to save his people from their sins. There is nothing in this life
more precious than the gift of faith in Christ. It is to have
and to know the Son of God and His love for sinners. What did
this man believe when he heard the testimony of God in the words
of the people and in the Lord's own words? He believed that Jesus
was God against whom the crowd and the other thief blasphemed.
He told that thief, don't you fear God? And he believed that
Jesus was Lord of all. He spoke to him calling Jesus
Lord. He believed in the righteousness
of Christ. He said, this man hath done nothing
amiss. And he heard Jesus pray to his
father for his enemies and saw him offer his sin-atoning blood
to God for them. That is love, and that love fulfilled
God's law. He believed Jesus died not for
his own sins, because he was righteous, but for the sins of
others by the will of God as the substitute for his people.
He believed Jesus was God's chosen High Priest, the Son of God and
Son of Man, ordained for men in things pertaining to God that
he might offer gifts and sacrifices for sin to make reconciliation
for the sins of the people. by his God-honoring and justice-satisfying
death on the cross. This thief believed he himself
was a sinner and justly condemned. He did not elevate himself above
the other thief. He spoke of his own condemnation
and sins using the word we. We are in the same condemnation,
he told the other thief, we indeed justly, for we receive the due
reward of our deeds. He owned his sin. He believed
and confessed Christ against all appearances and all the opposition
of the world. His faith is therefore unparalleled,
incredible, and astounding. But here is the grace of God.
It is the same faith of all of God's elect. Now consider what
this man was and how the Lord saved him. He was before a blasphemer,
even as the Apostle Paul said he was. Only moments earlier
he had joined the blaspheming crowd with the other thief and,
as it says in Matthew 27, cast the same in his teeth. He committed
the same crime as the other thief and he was sentenced to the same
condemnation. But incredibly, he now owns his
sin and the justice of God in his own condemnation. Now he
believes and confesses Christ as Lord, the righteous substitute,
the Lamb of God, who would rise in triumph over death and reign
as king and come again as judge. Now consider his prayer. He said,
Lord, remember me. To be remembered by Christ is
to be held in Christ's own thoughts and his own heart. All who are
thus remembered will be with Christ in glory. This man, by
his prayer, reveals his thoughts of Christ. The deepest need of
my soul will be met if Christ remembers me. Lord, your memory
of me is all my salvation. You remember those you love,
and your memory is my eternal salvation. If you remember me,
if you think on me, you will accomplish your thoughts. If
you remember me, then I will be eternally happy, because I
will know that I am yours and you are mine. You will save me
from death. You will not remember my sins.
You will bring me to yourself. The psalmist prayed this. In
Psalm 79, verse 8, he said, Do not remember against me former
iniquities. Let thy tender mercies speedily
go before us. My case is desperate. I am a
great sinner. I face eternal separation from
God in judgment. Therefore, O Lord, send your
mercy before me in judgment, remove my sins, and give me a
righteous standing, and do it for your name's sake." That is
what the thief prayed when he prayed, Lord, remember me. And
he prayed this, what is said in Psalm 106, Remember me, O
Lord, with the favor that Thou bearest unto Thy people, O visit
me with Thy salvation. The thief prayed according to
the prophecy in the Psalms. Remember me, O Lord, with the
favor that you have for your elect chosen people and visit
me with your salvation. Save me from my sins and from
the justice I deserve. Let me see your goodness to your
people and cause me to be glad in glory in your salvation with
them. Psalm 106, verse 4 and 5. Lord, remember the sacrifice
of your Son, how you provided Him and laid on Him the iniquities
of your people. Remember how you poured out your
justice on Him. Remember that you received His
obedience and sufferings and death for the full remission
of their sins. And remember your word to sinners,
that we are to look only to Him as all of our salvation, because
you only consider Him when you receive us for His sake. Lord,
remember me with your saving grace when you think of Christ.
That is what God tells sinners to do. Isaiah 43, verse 25 and
26, the Lord said, put me in remembrance. Put me in remembrance
of the blood of Christ by which all of his people's sins have
been remitted. Though a woman may forget the
son of her own womb that she nursed at her bosom, the Lord
will not forget his people. If the Lord Jesus Christ remembers
me, He will bring me to Himself. All my desire is to see His face,
to be with Him, to know the smile of His acceptance. The prayer
of this sinner to Christ was put in his heart by the Spirit
of God, because that prayer expresses the eternal desire of the Lord
Jesus Christ to save his people and to have them as his own. It is a request for the most
intimate communion a man can know, that communion of a sinner,
naked and empty, and finding all in his Savior, the Lord Jesus
Christ. And yet, there is a much greater
desire on Christ's part to save and have His own even than there
is on the part of a sinner. In this man we see the grace
of our Lord Jesus Christ. What a mercy that he would save
a wretch like me. What grace that he would give
himself and make intercession for his enemies. What love that
he would find satisfaction in saving sinners for himself. What a delightful, endearing
thought that Christ died, the just for the unjust, to bring
us to God and to bring us to Himself. 1 Peter 3, verse 18. This is Christ's assurance and
promise to every sinner, so looking to Him in utter dependence. May you and I, by God's amazing
grace, so look to Christ even now. You have just heard a sermon
by our pastor, Rick Warda. You may contact us by email or
by phone, or download a copy of this sermon by visiting our
website at ysgracechurch.com.