Luke chapter 23. I hope you'll
take your Bible and follow along. Luke chapter 23. Now the Lord Jesus Christ is
being crucified here. The Lamb of God is being slain. The substitute of God's elect
is dying for those elect. He is taking their sins in his
own body on the tree. He is doing this according to
the predetermined counsel and will and purpose of God which
was made before the world began. Though man is exercising his
will, Though man is fulfilling his own evil will, yet he is
fulfilling God's sovereign and eternal will, which is the only free will. Man is displaying his utter depravity
and sinfulness, yet God is displaying his sovereign power and sovereign
saving mercy and grace. And since the Lord Jesus Christ
came to earth, he said, to seek and to save that which was lost.
To save his sheep, his lost sheep, he said, of the house of Israel.
Since he came to this earth to seek and to save those lost,
and every step he took, every word he spoke, every action he
performed was for the purpose of saving every one of those
elect. was to go in their direction to find them where they were. One up a tree, one at a well,
one by a pool, wherever they were, he went and found them.
It is only fitting that the very
last thing he did upon this earth was find one of his sheep and
take him personally into glory. I've come to speak and to save
the lost,' he said, and the very last person he spoke to was the
one he took home with him." This is the story of a dying
thief. A thief. Not to make this man to be any
more than what he was, he's a thief. Another gospel says he was a
murderer and a thief. Utterly depraved. By that we
mean a worthless human being. hardened criminal. And here in
this story we are going to see, I hope we see ourselves. Every
single person whom God takes to glory with, every single person
whom Christ died for, every single person whom Christ reveals himself
to, he reveals what they are to them. Just like he did this
man, no less. He reveals to them that they
are utterly depraved totally helpless, and that Christ is
their only hope. Without exception, every single
person whom God speaks to. We are going to see the utter
depravity and helplessness of man, and we are going to see
the absolute sovereignty of our God. Look back first at Matthew 27.
Matthew's Gospel of chapter 27 gives a little fuller account
of what took place here. Our Lord is being crucified between
two thieves. There are two thieves on this
hill called Golgotha. Two thieves. And in Matthew 27,
it tells us a little more about what was said. Now, two condemned men, two thieves
and murderers, being crucified with Christ. And as I said, these fellows
were wicked men. These were hardened convicts,
is what they were. And they were being executed
for horrible crimes, horrible men. being executed for horrible
crimes that they committed. And yet, they are being condemned. They have been condemned. They
are being killed right now. They are hanging on this cross
and they are dying a slow, agonizing, torturous death. They are being
crucified, the worst form of punishment that can be inflicted
on a human being. They saved this kind of death
for the worst criminal. And these men are dying and they're
getting what they deserve. If you'd have known these men,
you'd have thought, crucify them. Alright, two of them. And what
are they doing? I said this is a picture of man's
utter depravity. Not only their character, but
what's going on here? All the people are deriding Christ,
the holy, spotless Son of God hanging there, who did no evil. I find no fault in him," Pilate
said. But all the people are deriving and mocking him and
scoffing at him and making fun of him, even in his pain. Why? Well, as we saw before, to fulfill
the Scripture. We read it there in Isaiah 53. depravity and foolishness and
wickedness of man. These thieves are doing it too. Both thieves are doing it too.
Look at verse 41 through 44. The people said, he trusted in
God, let him deliver him now if he'll have him. He said, I'm
the Son of God and the thieves also. Verse 43 and 44, I'm sorry. Verse 44, the thieves also, both
of them, thieves. Both thieves, which were crucified
with him, cast the same thing in his teeth. That is, they looked
at him and they were both, one on his right hand and one on
the left hand, they were both saying, mocking him and jeering
and scoffing at him, casting, gnashing their teeth and cussing
him and you know what, a heart con, what all they come up with. These men are dying. I mean,
they're about to face God. They are facing God. They're both looking at it. They're
facing God. That's God hanging on that cross.
And they're both deriding him and mocking him. These dying,
hell-deserving fellows about to face the Holy One. They're
going to face the One who they mocked. They're going to face
Him very shortly, because He's going to ascend His throne of
judgment. Christ said, all heart is given unto me. Christ said,
judgment is committed unto me. All judgment hath been committed
unto the Son by the Father, he said. They're going to place
this war on their mind. How foolish can you get? How foolish can you get? Stopping
at the judge. This same thing takes place every
day right now. Right now and every day in our
land. The very fact that most persons
refuse to come and hear the message of Christ crucified means they
think nothing of it. There is a scripture in, I believe
it is Jeremiah, that says, Is it nothing to you all that pass
by? That's what God's going to hold
this world accountable for. They're not interested. And so
God's going to say to many, I'm not interested in you either.
Well, these hell-deserving sinners are mocking him. And man, no
less today, is ignoring and mocking, just ignoring him. Old Brother Barnard, Brother
Ralph Barnard, used to tell young preachers such as my pastor,
he said, preach for a verdict. Preach for a verdict. He said,
me and Arthur, after hearing the gospel, I'll either get mad,
be sad, or glad. But indifference is rejection. Indifference is rejection. Many still do it today in mockery
of what Christ did. Well, look at Luke 23 now. So
both of these fellows are doing this, right? Both of these thieves
are doing it. Both of them are condemned and
dying criminals, and they're both mocking him. Both of them. And that's a picture of all of
God's people. Not just part of them, but all
of them. The Scripture we read in Isaiah
53 says we did esteem him stricken and smitten. We hid, as it were,
our faces from him. In other words, we did turn our
backs on him, not interest him. But God. Now, here's salvation. Salvation
comes to somebody like this. But God. And we. He said in Ephesians 2, who were
children of wrath, even as others, just like this thief, hid, as
it were, our faces from him, despised him, esteemed him not,
but God, who is rich in mercy. That's what it's going to take
to save this old thief. For his great love wherewith he loved
his people, and this is one of them, he's going to quicken them. They're looking at him now, and
they don't see who he is. They're scoffing at him now,
but they don't know who this is that they're mocking. They
hear what he said, but they don't hear it yet. One of them is going
to get quickened. One of them is going to have
spiritual life given to him. You see, what we see here is
not only the utter depravity and helplessness and condemnation
of man, See, both of them did that. Now we're going to see
the sovereign electing mercy and grace of God. Yes, electing. The world sure hates to hear
that. But God's Word, this is the theme of God's Word, He chooses
His own. If He didn't, no one would choose
Him. We're going to see what made the difference. Two thieves,
both guilty, both condemned, both dying, both receiving their
just due. Both getting what they deserve.
And look at verse 39 now of Luke 23. Verse 39, Luke 23 says, one
of the malefactors which were hanged, this is the one on the
left. This is the one hanging on his left. It doesn't say that,
but I know it is, because Scripture says he gathers
his sheep on his right hand and the goats on his left. And one
of them, it says in verse 39, which was hanged railed on him
and said, if you be the Christ, save thyself and us. One of them
continued to mock him. They both were mocking him up
to this point. And one of them kept right on.
You see, they're both. Can you see this picture here?
We can't really see what's going on here. This is why I say that
these pictures, so to speak, of Jesus hanging on a cross are
a mockery, really. You can't depict what went on
on that cross. If you really saw what he looked like hanging
on that cross, you wouldn't hang it on your wall. Scriptures, Isaiah 52 says, his
visage, his form was admired more than anybody. No human being
ever looked like he did after hanging what he went through.
But that's not even it. That's not the real suffering
that our Lord endured. He went through hell on the cross
for his people. He was separated from God and
literally endured the wrath and judgment of God Almighty. Now,
who's going to describe that? How can you paint that picture?
Just like no one has ever painted the sun in all its fullness and
all its splendor, they talk about this fellow called to be the
painter of light. I think his name is Kincaid or
something. Painter of light. Oh, no. No
one's ever painted light. You can't look at the sun and
all its splendor. It will blind you. And no one
has ever depicted this scene that took place here. And that's
the reason it's a mockery to try to do so. Besides, crosses
and pictures are idols, which our Lord said don't make any
raven image. Did he not? What the Word said. At any rate, here's the scene.
One on either side dying, scoffing, mocking, casting their filth
in the teeth of Christ. And all of a sudden, one of them
stops. Yeah, you know, on both sides.
They're both on both sides of Him. One of them becomes still. But the other one goes right
on. You know, if you believe the Christ, See, when one of them becomes
still, he's going to know this is God. Be still and know that I'll go. You can't know who Christ is.
That's the reason all these sheriffs, all this religion that's going
on today, all the hand-waving and clapping and running and
jumping and shouting, you can't hear the message in the mess. God says be still. and know that
I'm God. Scripture says, God's in the
heaven, thou upon the earth, let your words be few. He says,
I've got a spokesman who's going to stand up and declare who I
am. You can't hear who he is if you're doing the talking.
And one of them shuts up. This is the first thing God Almighty
does to everyone. He reveals himself, shuts their
mouth. You see, the ear and the mouth
are directly connected. One cannot be open if the other
one's not shut. Try it. You cannot hear while you're
talking. And if you're hearing, you won't
be talking. And one of them shuts up. God shut him up. Christ shut him up. Well, the
other one keeps talking, you know. Keeps talking. Now, both
of these men, listen to this, both of these men, both of these
thieves saw and heard the same thing, didn't they? Both of these men saw and heard
the same thing. They both saw a man being crucified. Now listen, this is still going
on today. And there may be men all over
the world right now standing in a pulpit of wood like this
and talking about this very scene. But salvation comes when you
hear more than a man's voice. Salvation comes when you see
more than just a man hanging on that cross. Salvation comes
when you hear the voice of the Son of God Himself. Not an audible
voice, Both of these men saw and heard
the same thing. They saw a man hanging on a crop,
a man being crucified. They saw this Jesus of Nazareth,
this Jesus suffering death. They both saw the same thing. They both saw a man seemingly
weak. They saw Him, they were walking
along with Him up to Calvary's Hill when He fell beneath the
load of that cross. Oh, poor Jesus, everybody, poor
Jesus. He can't carry the cross, He's
so weak. You remember that's when the ladies,
you know, the women started crying and He turned, don't weep for
me, don't weep for me. Weep for yourselves and your
children. But they saw this Jesus, you know. seemingly weak and
helpless, he's been defeated by his enemies. He's been defeated
by his enemies. They've got him. They'll take
him and they're going to kill him. They see a man being crucified
in weakness. They see all his friends desert
him, all his so-called courageous friends, you know, like Peter
and all that, desert him. They all lift him. They see a mere man being crucified.
Both of these thieves saw a man being crucified named Jesus. But then all of a sudden, one of them began to see his
glory. One of them began to see his
glory. What did he say? Huh? What made this? What happened?
What happened? We heard that now both of them
were hollering at him and cussing at him just like everybody else,
and saw the same thing, and all of a sudden one of them shuts
up. Free will? Did all of a sudden
he decide to let Jesus into his heart? Did all of a sudden he
decide to accept him as his personal Savior? Did all of a sudden he
decide to make him Lord? Huh? Is that what happened? That's
a mockery. Sovereign grace is happening
here. Sovereign, supernatural, electing grace is happening here.
Discriminating grace. The Holy Spirit, the glorious
word he listed, is descended upon this son of Adam, this condemned,
dying, helpless sinner, and saying, open your eyes. Shut your mouth. Who do you think
you're talking to? Behold my glory. free will? That's blasphemy. Nobody ever by their free will,
man by his free will crucified Christ. They said to the crowd,
what will you do with Jesus? This is what we will do with
Jesus if you put him into our hands, kill him. Kill him. But now, what it's going to take
to change this will of ours is the sovereign will of God to
say, now you will know who this is, and you will acknowledge
him, and you will ask him for mercy, and he will save you. All of a sudden, one of these
thieves began to see who this was. This is no mere man. You see, he didn't see any outward,
he still saw a man hanging on a cross. Salvation is not to
see some vision. Salvation is not to see a sign,
a miracle, or a wonder. Our Lord said, an evil and adulterous
generation seeketh after a sign, but no sign will be given. No
sign will be given. No sign will be given. But now,
one sign will be given, the sign of the prophet Jonah. As Jonah
was in the belly of the whale three days and three nights,
so shall the Son of Man be in the heart of the earth three
days and three nights. Christ crucified, buried, and risen
again, ascended and seated. That's what every one of his
people are going to see. The sign of the Son. They're
going to see the Son in all his glory. And the first place they
see him is hanging on a cross. And look at what this thief said,
verse 40, look at what he said now. He finally answers, and
now listen, there's a good deal of time going on here. There's
a good deal of time taking place here. This all wasn't quick and
instantaneous. Much was going on, the sights,
the sounds, the smells, people, it's impossible to depict this
thing, the madness, the chaos, the wickedness, blood to go on. He wouldn't have
wanted to be in there. And in the midst of all this
chaos, everybody's screaming and yelling and carrying on and
all this, and this one thing cuts in off, and all of a sudden,
one fellow just shuts up. And he just starts, he's just
looking at it. He's just looking at Christ. He's just looking
at Christ. He's just looking. That's all. Jeanette, he's just
looking. That's all he's doing. He's just
beholding. Like the people said, everybody
beheld him there. All the people beholding him.
And this thief all of a sudden quits talking and starts looking. And God Almighty is working on
his heart, his evil heart. He's taking away that stony heart.
Giving him a heart of flesh. Breaking his hard heart. Taking
away the scales off his eyes. Unstopping the worldly wax out
of his ears. He's not hearing anything now
but the voice of the Son of God. And Nancy, he heard him say just
a moment ago, he heard him say, Father, forgive them. They don't know what they did.
And he thinks, I don't know what I'm doing. What am I doing? Father. He's talking to God. Calling
Father. This is the Son of God. I don't
know what I'm doing. I'm cursing the Son of God. Oh, that he might open more eyes.
Might not be cussing him, but he might not be listening. Might
as well cuss him. You know that? Might as well
cuss him. He used to not listen, not care.
Isn't that right? Well, he says in verse 40, now
here's what he says in verse 40, he turns the other The other
answering rebuked that other thief on the other side and said,
this is important, everything he said. Look at verse 40. Dost thou not thou fear God? Deborah, where did he learn that?
I mean, this is a thief and a murderer. all his life, all he'd been is
a thief and a murderer. Don't make him out to be what
he was. Oh, he was raised in a good family. Where does it
say that? He's a thief and a murderer. Where did he learn this? Why
all of a sudden does he understand you've got to fear God? Because
that's the beginning of wisdom. Salvation is of the Lord, and
the beginning of that saving wisdom is the fear of the Lord. Not the love of God, not to hear
of the love of God, but to see, to have put in your heart the
fear of the Lord. To see yourself as condemned
and dying like this man. To see yourself in the hands
of that woman. To see yourself about to face that
woman. And he said, don't you fear God? You see, he didn't say, don't you fear
dying? We're dying. Don't you fear dying?
Don't you fear the unknown? He didn't say that, did he, Dan?
Everybody fears dying. Nobody wants to die. Everyone
fears the unknown. That's not salvation. Salvation
is not going through some traumatic experience, a near-death experience. That's not salvation. Salvation
is the fear of the Lord, seeing who His person is. Salvation
is seeing who He is, and then, Brother Henry, seeing what you
are in His hands, and then calling on Him for mercy. Salvation is not some near-death
experience. It's a fear of God experience. Don't you fear God? He said.
Now look at this. He makes a confession, verse
40. He says, Dost thou not fear God,
seeing that thou art in the same condemnation? Verse 41. We indeed
justly, we receive the due reward of our deeds, but this man hath
done nothing amiss. We're getting what we deserve.
We're on this cross because that's where we belong. We're nothing
but no good, condemned to die and worthy of death, criminals
and thieves and murderers. And we're dying and going to
face God. But this man, he's the holy,
spotless, without blame, son of the Most High God. This man
is the only man approved of God. He didn't say all that. All of God's people know this.
This is the only man approved of God. This is the only one
accepted by God. This is the holy spotless Son
of God. This is the Lamb, without blemish
and without spot, being crucified here. You reckon he saw that? Oh, yeah. God is able. And that's what God shows every
one of his people. You see, like we've been saying,
salvation is by sovereign electing grace. Both just alike, both
saw the same things, but God chose one of them. The other
got what he deserved, right? He just left him alone. He didn't
have to save either one of them. That's easy. And God doesn't
have to save anybody, but he chooses the people. And because
he's so rich in mercy, he chooses a number which no man can number.
But he has a number. He chose salvation by sovereign
election. Salvation is a supernatural work. This wasn't the act of this man's
will. This was the act, the power of
the Holy Spirit of God moving on him, causing his eyes to open,
his ears to open, his heart to break. salvation, a supernatural,
powerful work of God's Holy Spirit, something happened to this man.
Something happened. I tell you what, someone, someone,
it wasn't a thing. He didn't hear a doctrine. He
saw a person. Someone had opened his eyes.
Someone has taught him in an instant, in a moment, in the
twinkling of an eye, someone has taught him, this is no mere
man here, this is the Lord of Glory. Now, if you could bow,
you better bow. Since you can't, bow your heart
right now. Every knee's going to bow. You
can't bow your knee, but bow your heart. And every tongue's
going to confess that he's Lord. Say it! to the glory of God the Father.
And from the heart that I've given you, confessing, for with
the heart man believeth unto righteousness, and you'll be
made righteous in an instant. That's what the Holy Spirit told
this man. Confessing! This is the Holy One of God.
This man has done nothing of me. Oh, my. Some may think we split hairs
when we say these things. But there's not a more relevant note today than this. There's a multitude of people
talking about Jesus. Jesus this and Jesus that. He's on everyone's lips. He's
on everyone's bumper stickers. He's on everyone's t-shirts.
They can't possibly know who he is or they wouldn't put him
on their t-shirt. They saw Jesus. falling under
the cross. They saw Jesus being nailed to
the cross. They saw Jesus hung on the cross. This man was saved when he saw
the Lord. And he didn't call him Jesus. He said, Lord. He didn't make him Lord, either.
He acknowledged what he had been from the foundation of the world. He acknowledged what he was right
then and there, though hanging on the cross, he hung himself
on the cross, because he's Lord of life. He said, No man taketh
my life from me, I'm the Lord of life, in whom we live and
move and have our being. I'm hanging here because I chose
to hang here. Don't weep for me. They're not
killing me. I'm killing me. And you think I'm just Jesus.
Well, I'm the Lord of glory. And when they take this body
down and put it in a grave, I'm going to ascend my throne. And three days later, just like
it was said thousands of years previous to this, and just like
I said every time I stood before you in three days, I walked into
that body like a man putting on a suit of clothes. And I walked
out of that grave and rolled that two-ton stone back with
my little finger. Because you're going to see,
I'm no mere man. I'm the Lord. You can't kill
me. You can't keep me. You can't
make me. You don't let me. I the Lord do all things. There's not a more relevant and
needful message to our generation than this right here. Now this other Jesus is just
that, a man only. And he wants to and tries and
fails and can't and men won't let him. Not the Lord of Glory
now. You notice he never asked this
thief one thing. Did he? Did he ask this fellow
anything? Kings don't ask their servants anything. Kings don't
beg their servants to do anything for them. Kings speak the word. Now, this beggar asked him, doesn't
he? This beggar, this thief. acknowledges the Lord, and here's
what he says, verse 42, and I quit. Verse 42, the thief said, Lord,
remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom. Oh, I wish
I could preach this like it ought to be preached. I wish you could
hear it like it ought to be heard. Salvation is not us doing, knowing,
being, quitting, stopping, turning. We read in Isaiah 53, it says,
By his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify me. By his knowledge. When this man finally realized
this is the Lord of life, I am in his hand. How much did he
know of the Lord? He realizes that it's all up
to the power, the knowledge, the work, the person, the will
of this one. I am. My very life and soul and
eternal life depends upon the will and the word of this one
here. Not me knowing him. Not me remembering
him. You see it written on this table
here. No, this do in remembrance of me. That's just a commemorative service
that we go through, that our Lord commanded and said, as often
as you eat this bread and drink this wine, you do show forth
the Lord's death until He comes. This do in remembrance of me.
It's just a couple of objects that our Lord gave for us to
remember what He has done. But that's not salvation. Your
salvation. Lord, remember me when you come
into your kingdom, he said. Would you remember me when you
come into your kingdom? This is that one, Brother John,
in Psalm 24 where it says, why? Open up the gates, the everlasting
doors. Open the gates. Somebody's coming
in. Christ is going to walk in the
heaven itself. The gates are going to swing
wide open for him. And they're going to say, well, who is this?
Well, it's the King of Glory. It's the King of Glory. He's
coming in. He's going to sit on his throne. Emmanuel's going
to ascend the throne. And he's going to bring many
sons with him, you see. And he knows them all by name.
The Scripture says Christ said that he engraved them on the
palm of his hand. He knows them all by name, and not one takes
him by surprise. There's no erasure marks in the
Lamb's Book of Life. It was written before the world
began and sealed. There's no erasure mark. Oh,
he didn't make it. I'm sorry. He tried and failed, and I couldn't
save him. He wouldn't let me. Oh, here's one. I didn't expect
you to be here. No, sir. He said, I have no machine. I'm laying down my life for him.
Now, here's one, John. The last one. And here the thief realizes all
this and says, Lord, would you remember me? You're coming into
your kingdom. You're going to sit on a throne
of glory, reigning and ruling over the armies of heaven among
the inhabitants of the earth. Would you just, when you bring
in your sheep into the furrow, when you present all of your
children to the Father the same, behold, I and the children which
thou hast given me, do you reckon I could be in that number? You reckon you've got a little
mercy left for one more, the worst, the chief of sinners? And the last one, you reckon
the last could be with you is first? But just remember that. When you think, I know you have
a lot to think of. Well, would you just think on
that? I know I'm poor and simple, yet the Lord thinketh on me. Well, it says here in verse 43, Christ
said unto him, now here's when salvation comes. Salvation doesn't come when we
decide. Salvation doesn't come when we
do something. Salvation comes when Christ speaks. Sins are blotted out when God
says so. Salvation happens to a human
being when God declares it, not when a man confesses. No, sir. And here is this man's
salvation, barely. Barely. I say unto you, who are
you? I'm the Lord. I'm the Word made
flesh. I say unto you, barely. He said
heaven and earth will pass away, but not one word of mine will
pass away. I remember you. Well, I never forgot you. Oh, you've known me before? Yes. For whom he foreknew, he did
predestinate. whom he would predestinate, he
called. He called him on his cross. He's calling him, John,
and it's impossible for him not to answer. Whom he called, he
justified. How did he justify? By his blood. Whom he justified, he's going
to glorify. Today, he said. Today. Verily, I say unto you, today. Today is the day of salvation.
Today shalt thou be with me in paradise." Sudden death, sudden glory. How
is this man saved? Sovereign electing grace. How
is this man saved? Sovereign supernatural work of
the Holy Spirit, giving him a new heart, giving him eyes to see
and ears to hear. How was this man saved when Christ
spoke the word? How was this man saved by being
crucified with Christ? How was this man saved by virtue
of the blood of that one hanging beside him? How was this man
saved by Christ presenting him to the Father? He said, today
I'm taking you in personally. I'm going to escort you into
the halls of glory. I've been looking for you, and
I found you. One of my lost sheep. Come on,
we're going home. You see, every step he took was
the purpose of saving his sheep, and it's only fitting that the
last thing he'd do, take one of his sheep home. Come on, let's
go home. That's the Lord, that's the Jesus
Christ of this Bible. And that's salvation. Thieves. Thieves. Not the righteous. He said, I
didn't come to call a righteous man. But thieves. They repent. And they will. They'll repent. Let's sing in
closing verses. There's only one hymn to sing. There's only one hymn to sing.
222. The dying thief rejoiced to see That fountain meant his
day. Oh, and there may I, though vile
as he, wash all my sins away. Alright. There is a trap and
it deals with blood. God's heart in manual play. And sinner's blood, we need that
blood to prove all their guilty stains. To prove all their guilty
stains. To prove all their guilty stains. And sinner's blood, we need that
blood The dying King rejoiced to see that pardon in His name. And there may I go by day, my
sins away.