Luke 23, 32. And there were also two other malefactors
led with him to be put to death. And when they were come to the
place which is called Calvary, There they crucified him, and
the malefactors, one on the right hand and the other on the left.
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, Dost thou not 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 unto him, Jesus,
Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom. And Jesus said
unto him, Verily I say unto thee, Today shalt thou be with me in
paradise. Turn with me back to Luke 23.
Luke 23. And just read again those 39 through 43. This is
where I'm going to preach from, God willing. 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, Dost thou not fear God, seeing thou art in the same
condemnation, and we indeed justly? For we received the due reward
of our deeds, but this man hath done nothing amiss. And he said
unto Jesus, Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom. And our Lord said unto him, Verily
I say unto thee, Today shalt thou be with me in paradise. There's three crosses here today.
Three crosses that we see. Three men are on those crosses. One man is dying for sin, our
Lord Jesus Christ. One man is dying to sin, that's
the repentant thief. One man is dying in sin, that's
the impenitent thief. And on these three crosses, you
have one man giving life, You have one man losing life. One man receiving life. So here our Lord Jesus Christ
saves a man in his dying hour. In his dying hour. Now I wouldn't,
if I was you, I wouldn't wait until I was on my deathbed asking the Lord to save me. I
wouldn't recommend doing like this thief did. Wait to his last
hours on this earth. Knowing that he was condemned
to death. And a criminal. I wouldn't wait to the last minute
like this man did. But something happened to him.
Something happened to him. That has to happen to everybody. And we look at this thief. This
thief repented. He was such a repentant thief.
And he was dying. And as we look at him, we can
see salvation by grace through the Lord Jesus Christ as clear
as you'll find in any place in God's blessed book. And when
you look at his last words, and the last moments of his life
on this earth, He gave good evidence, good proof of his conversion
to the Lord Jesus Christ in his dying hours. In fact, few dying
people have ever left behind such a good testimony or good
evidence of being saved by grace than this dying thief. You know, there's a time and
a place for everything and it was God gave us some evidence
here and I told, I hope that you have repented and repentance
is, let me tell you what repentance is, it's a change of mind. Some
people say it's a turning from sin. Well, it is that, but yet
at the same time, but it's a change of mind, but it's a radical,
radical change of mind. When we talk about mind, we talk
about the heart, we talk about who we are, what makes us us. And when God saves a man by His
grace and brings him to repentance and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ,
He changes his mind first and foremost about himself. I mean, he finds out that he
is less than nothing. That he is truly a worm. that
he has got nothing to trust in, boast in, or glory in, in this
world, except the Lord Jesus Christ. And then his mind changes
about God. God is not some poor pitiful person who's
waiting on us to open our hearts or wait for us to make a move. He comes and He expresses His
will and power and purpose in a man's heart like He did this
dying thief. And then He changes His mind
about the Lord Jesus Christ. And He changes His mind about
how God saves the sinner. That if He's saved, God's got
to do the saving. If He's kept, God's got to do
the keeping. If He sees glory and goes inside
of heaven itself, God's got to be the one to take Him there.
And He'll take Him for one reason and one reason only. Because
Jesus Christ, the Son of God, lived for Him, died for Him,
shed His blood for Him, was buried for Him, raised again, and sent
to the right hand of God, interceding for Him, even now. Huh? Would you agree with that? That's
a pretty good change of mind, ain't it? That's what happened
to this thief on this cross. And if a man's going to be saved,
you're going to have to be saved like this thief was. And here
we see an illustration, an illustration in these three men on this cross
of how God saves a sinner. and how he does us saves a man
in his dying hour. The first thing I want you to
look about was his concern about his companion's wickedness in
reviling our Lord Jesus Christ. In verse 39 it says this, one
of the malefactors which were hanged railed on him, say, railed
on the Lord Jesus Christ. That means he found fault with
him, made fun of him. ridiculed him, railed on him,
mocked him. And here's this man dying on
a cross, condemned to die. He's going to die. And he ain't
got long to live. And then he says, if you be the
Christ, save thyself and us. But look what the other man said
to him. He says, dost thou not fear God? Does thou not fear
God? That's the first thing he said
to this man. He rebuked him. The scripture
says there, he rebuked him. Does thou not fear God? And one
of the things that's evident in this generation and has always
been evident, that men don't fear God. The men that delivered
up the Lord Jesus Christ on this day, they did not fear God. Pilate did not fear God. Herod
did not fear God. Fear God. The high priest in
them that delivered the Lord Jesus up and cried crucify him.
They didn't fear God. Those that went to the synagogue
every Saturday, they didn't fear God. And I tell you they had
no fear of God at all. They was going out into eternity.
This man's going out into eternity and he has no regard for God
whatsoever. You know how many people had
to, in scripture Paul said, there is no fear of God before their
eyes. There's no fear of God before
some of your people's lives. There's some fear of God before
people that come to these services, no fear of God before their eyes. And he rebuked him. He said,
Oh my, the fear of God. Oh Lord, if thou shouldest mark
iniquities, if God went through here today and started marking
iniquities in your life, who in the world would be able
to stand? And you know what he said? But there is forgiveness
with thee. Oh, iniquities like mountains
stand up against us. But he says, there's forgiveness
with you. Why? So that you may be feared. That you may be feared. Keep
this where you're at and then look over at Ecclesiastes. Ecclesiastes
right before the book of Proverbs. And look at Ecclesiastes 3 with
me for a moment. He rebuked his companions him
and this fellow was both dying And he said he says to him. Don't you fear God? You're railing
on this man here. You're dying and you're Railing
on him and look what he said here in verse 14. Please ask
these 314 I Know I Know that I know this,
whatsoever God doeth, it shall be forever. Nothing can be put
to it, nor anything take it from it, and God does it. Why? That
men should fear before Him. Oh my. Oh my. So that's the first thing this
man done. Well, that's the first thing. And look back over in
our text and look what else the second thing he did. The second
thing he did is that he acknowledged his own sin. He said there in
verse 40, Dost thou not fear God, seeing thou in the condemned
nation? And then he said in verse 41,
And we're condemned here as standing on the judgment of God, and we
indeed justly. We're here because we deserve
to be. Oh my! I'm here because I'm here
justly. God's treating me according to
what I deserve. That's what this man says. He
says, We know whatsoever things the law saith, it saith them
that under the law that every mouth may be stopped, and the
whole world become guilty before God. And here's a man who said,
I'm here justly. God's right in condemning me.
God's right in finding me guilty. God's right in having me to die
for what I've done. Indeed, justly. Oh, he said,
we received the just reward of our deeds. That's what he said,
the just reward of our deeds. Man wants to make you think he's
in really good shape, but like Isaiah, when he saw the Lord,
he said, oh my, I saw the Lord high and lifted up in His glory,
filled that temple, and even the timber shook. Seraphim got around him and they
were crying, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy! And Isaiah
looked and he saw all that. And the first thing he said was,
woe is me! Woe is me! I'd like to find somebody
to throw up their heads and say, woe is me! That's what this man said, I'm
here because I deserve to be here. And he said, I dwell. I'm a man
of unclean lips and everybody that I live around is exactly
in the same condition I'm in. And when he done that, you know
what the scripture said, an angel came and took a coal off the
altar and cleansed him. cleansed his lips. The scripture says that we are
all like our righteousness is a filthy rag. And he said we
receive the just due rewards of our deeds. And I know this,
if God ever saves a man, he knows that he has not got it coming. Once you get lost, once you get
lost, once you know that you're justly condemned and God's found
you out. Adam, where are you? Well, I'm
here over here. God didn't ask Adam where he
was geographically. He asked Adam, where are you
in my sight? I know where you are, but I want
you to know where you are. I know where you are and I know
what you are. I want you to know who you are and I want you to
know what you are. That's what God does. And I tell
you, listen to me now. We'll face God for our own sin. I'm not going to face God for
what Adam done. I'm going to face God for what I done. I'm
not going to face God for the way my father was. I'll face
God for me. I won't face God for my wife. I'll face God for me. I won't face God for my children.
I'll face God for my own sin. And when Simon Peter, our Lord
Jesus Christ was preaching from his boat one day, from his ship
one day. Then he told Peter, said, cast
out into the deep. Let down your net. Simon Peter
said oh Lord said listen. I'm a fisherman. That's all I've
ever done. I know fishing I know how to fish and I fished all
night long, and I ain't got nothing And the Lord said well just let
down your net Okay, it's your word Lord. I will When he put
part start pulling up that thing he said Lord Lord Oh Lord Depart
from me? I'm such a sinful man to question
you? To act like I knew something? To act like I had some handle
on what was going on in this world? You imagine a man. Here's a man. He's just a man. Calling himself
doctor or master of divinity. Doctor of divinity. Doctor of
philosophy in divinity When we just sung oh my God how great
thou art When I considered that God his son not sparing Sent him to die To take away my sin My burden gladly bearing Then saves my soul. My God, how great thou art. Oh, Daniel. Daniel said, when
he got before God, he said, all my comeliness, it turned into
corruption. David said, it was against you,
you only that I've sinned. And when John saw our Lord Jesus
Christ in all of His glory, you know what he did? He fell down
as a dead man. And I remember vividly laying
before the Lord and said, Lord, if you will, you can have mercy
on me. If you don't, that's all I got to plead is mercy, mercy,
mercy. I told him out of my own lips
that you don't owe me nothing. Oh my! He said, we're here justly. I'm getting what's coming to
me. And then look what this thief
did. He made an open confession of the innocence, the glory of
this Lord Jesus Christ. Look what he said. Verse 41,
we're here justly. For we receive the due reward
of our deeds. But this man, this man has done
nothing amiss. He has not done anything. Oh
my! Listen, this man has done nothing
amiss. You know how many times Pilate
said, I find no fault in this man? He said, when I turned and
told him four times. I find no fault in this man.
Herod sent him back to Pilate and said, I didn't find anything
worthy of death in this man. Huh? Oh my. And then he went out and got
him. He's gotten before that old crowd and got him a pan of
water. Bring me a pan of water over here. And he stuck his hands in that
water and he said, I don't like this here. He said, I'm washing
my hands of this man. You reckon he did? Huh? Oh my. Herod said it, look right
here at verse 14 and 15 of chapter 23. His wife told him, come and told
him, you know, told Pilate, she said, oh my, I have nothing to
do with this just man. I've suffered much in a dream
because of him. Pilate, when he had called together
the chief priests and the rulers of the people, said, Unto them,
You have brought this man unto me as one that perverteth the
people. And behold, I have examined him
before you, and have found no fault in this man, touching those
things wherever you accuse him. Nor yet, no, nor yet, Herod,
for I sent him to you, and lo, nothing worthy of death is done
unto him." Done unto him. You know what? Pilate, Judas, Herod, all found no fault in this man. But
every one of them is perished now. Perished. Look over here in Matthew 27.
Look in Matthew 27. Look what it says here. What
Judas did. Matthew 27. Verse 3, you know, just like this thief, he said,
oh we're here indeed justly. Now these men all said, I find
no fault with him. Washed my hands of him. His wife
said, I have nothing to do with this just man. I've suffered
in a dream. Look what Judas said here. Then
Judas, which had betrayed him, listen to this, now when he saw
that he was condemned, he repented himself, brought again the thirty
pieces of silver to the chief priest and elders, saying, I
have sinned, and that I have betrayed the innocent blood.
And they said, what's that to us? We paid you for it. We got, you got your money for
it. We paid you well for doing what you did. What's that to
us? You've been paid. So he cast down the pieces of
silver in the temple, departed, and went and hanged himself. He said, I betrayed innocent
blood, hered to all of those men. Justly now they condemned
They're all suffering now. They're just not condemnation
of God Almighty, but this thief ain't This thief ain't. Oh, no. No, uh-uh. He looked at the Lord
Jesus Christ and said this man ain't done nothing wrong He done
nothing wrong, you know why they and Pilate willing to content
the people willing to do what the people willing to do what
the people wanted and And that's what men wills to do. You know
how often Mary came and said, Lord, they've taken his body
away. They've taken away my Lord. And
the Lord Jesus Christ has been taking out of preaching. The
Lord Jesus Christ has been taking out of the gospel. The Lord Jesus
Christ in His glory, in His justice, and His power, and His blood,
and His righteousness, and His authority, absolute authority,
His sovereignty, and His right to save or condemn, His kingdom,
His kingship, His lordship, all of it's been taken out of the
gospel. Now it's presented unto people a weakling, a weakling, Someone with no authority. Someone
who stands weak and helpless with a cry on his voice. Please, please, please let me
have my way with you. Let me have your heart. Let me
have your will. Let me do something for you. But this thief says, this man
right here, he's not like me. He's not like me, I'm here justly. I've sinned and I've sinned greatly.
That man there ain't done no sin. He's sinful, he's sinless,
holy and harmless and undefiled and separate from sinners. That's
what he's saying. And you've got to see, you've
got to see that the only way that the Lord Jesus Christ was
on that cross was not for Himself. Was not for Himself. It was for
a multitude that no matter who He died for, I guarantee you,
they'll be saved. And He will not beg, He will
not plead, He will not ask. Sovereigns don't ask. They command. Our Lord said, go fetch him. And when he says, go fetch him,
you got. Ain't that right? And I will
see that here in a minute. And here's the fourth thing that
this thief saw when we look back over here in our text. Oh, look what he says here now.
In verse 42. He had faith in our Lord Jesus
Christ's power and will to save. And he said, Lord! First thing
out of his mouth was, Lord! You're the Lord! He had faith in the Lord Jesus Christ's
power and will to save. And he turned to a crucified
Savior and called Him Lord. And he said, Lord, remember me
when Thou comest into Thy kingdom. He declared not only that Christ
was Lord, that he believed he was a king over a kingdom. How
in the world did that happen? How did he see him as Lord? Huh? How did he see him as Lord? Now
listen to what I'm going to tell you. When the Lord Jesus Christ
was on that cross, This dying thief looked over at a man and
he saw a man that was bloody from the top of his head to the
sole of his feet. He had been beaten with 39 stripes. He was naked. Blood was running
down his face from that crown of thorns. The back of his ribs were showing
where they beat him. Blood was dripping on the ground. He was bloody all over. You see
these pictures of Jesus with a little old loincloth on, blonde
headed, blue eyed. Just a little bit of blood brinkling
off of his brow. No! No, the blood that come out
of his hands and feet alone. Blood was running down his arms. Blood was pouring down out of
his back and going down his sides and down his legs. He's looking at a man hanging
there. Oh, he's hanging there just like he is. He's going to die and He's looking
at that bleeding, broken, bruised body of that man. And how in the world did He say
that man is the Lord? Explain that to me. The same way you and I know He's
the Lord. There's no other way to know
it. The only way you can explain it is free and sovereign grace. The Holy Ghost came to him and
made him know who Christ was then and there. Oh my! Our Lord Jesus, bless
His holy name. He was revealed to that man in
his dying hour. Oh my! Our Lord Jesus says, nobody
knows the Father but the Son, and nobody knows the Son but
the Father. And he to whomsoever he will
reveal him. Who do men say that I the Son
of Man am? Oh listen, you're a great prophet. You're a great teacher. You're Jeremiah, you cry so much
and you go with so much sorrow, you're like Jeremiah the weeping
prophet? But who do you say I am? I heart
the Christ. You're the son of the living
God. Our Lord Simon, you are so blessed. Flesh and blood didn't reveal
that to you. But my Father, my Father. And oh my, you are talking about
sovereign grace and free grace. How are you going to explain
this? You know the Spirit searches all things, the deep things of
God, but then He hath revealed them unto us. Oh my. How do you explain Simeon? He walks in the temple. They've
got the Lord Jesus Christ in there. As a baby. Offering him as the first born
from the womb. First one that opens the womb. Takes him to the temple. Takes
him to the tabernacle. Takes him to the temple there.
And dedicating him to the Lord like the law says to do. Simeon walks in there and he
looks around and sees all these people. Mothers holding their
babies and daddies in there with them. He sees a little woman
sitting there, she's poor, oh she's so poor. He walks over
and picks up that baby, looks at him, and said, Lord, oh Lord,
mine eyes, mine eyes, mine eyes have seen thy salvation. Now, let thy servant depart in
peace." Handed him back to Mary. I believe he probably went home
real quick after that. Oh, it's the same way we see
Christ, the Holy Ghost. Oh, I tell you, when you realize
who he's looking at, and calls him Lord, When you look what a broken body
he's looking at and calls him Lord. He says, you're a king. How can he be a king? He ain't got no crown. He's broken and bruised. Lord, remember me when you come
to your kingdom. And the next thing he did, you
know what the next thing he did? He prayed. He prayed. Oh my. He just used nine words. Nine words. Bartimaeus used seven
words. When Simon Peter was out on the
sea, he used seven, six words. After you know, you don't have
to make a long prayer to get God to do something for you. Old Simon Peter says, Lord save
me or I perish. Barnabas said, O Jesus, thou
son of David, have mercy on me. And this man used nine words And the first word out of his
mouth said, Lord. He said, he cried, Lord, remember me when
you come into your kingdom. Five things about his prayer.
Let me give them to you. First of all, his prayer was
short. It was short. Short. Don't have to say a lot
of things. His prayer was short. His prayer
was humble. Oh, he didn't make any demands. He said, Lord, remember me. Remember me. That's what Joseph
told that butler. He said, remember me before Pharaoh. He was humble. And thirdly, it
concerned himself. I'm the one lost. I'm the one
lost. I'm the one in terrible shape. that concerned himself. Lord,
remember me. I'm the one lost. I'm the one
in need. And fourthly, he prayed for spiritual blessings. Spiritual
blessings. That other thief said, just save
us. Come down off the cross. Fear the Christ. Save yourself
and us. But this man said, Lord, remember
me. when you come into your kingdom.
He prayed for spiritual blessings. The other thief only wanted to
be saved from the cross itself. And you know what? It was a powerful,
powerful prayer. You know what made it powerful?
It come from his heart. Come from his heart. And the last thing he did while
he was on this earth And do this, I've seen folks get sick, I've
seen people die. Most people, most people, before
they die, they become unconscious. They become unconscious or else
they die very suddenly. So while you're still in your
right mind, why you're still able to understand what's going
on. Before you have a stroke, before
you have a heart attack, before they give you enough medicine
to put you out. Do like this dying thief. Do
like this dying thief. The last thing he did on earth,
he begged the Lord to be remembered. He said, Lord, please remember
me. Would there be any better words
from a sinner than that? Huh? Lord, remember me. And I say that, Lord, remember me. I may forget myself, forget my
name. My mother didn't know her own
name, certainly didn't know any of her children, didn't know
her sisters or nobody. She could have cried to God all
she wanted to, but it wouldn't have done her no good. She didn't
know nothing. Don't do that. Right now. Say, Lord, remember
me. Remember me. Let me show you
something. Keep this and look in Malachi.
Look in Malachi. That's the last book of the Old
Testament. Right before Matthew. Look in Malachi. I want you to
see Malachi here. Right before, look in Malachi
3.16. Oh my. The last thing he did
on earth, he begged to be remembered by the Lord Jesus Christ himself.
But look what it says now, Malachi 3.16. Then they that feared the Lord,
and that's what he did, he feared the Lord, spake often to one
to another. Well, he spoke to Christ himself.
And the Lord hearkened and listened and heard it, and a book of remembrance
was written. The Lord remember me. And a book of remembrance was
written before him for them that feared the Lord. and thought
on his name and then look what the next line says they shall
be mine saith the Lord of hosts and that day when I make up my
jewels I'll spare them as a man spareth his own son I think that's
what happened to this man that day here's one of my jewels, here's
one of my jewels I'm going to spare him, it's one of my jewels And beloved, here's evidence.
Here's evidence that salvation is by grace apart from works,
from any works. What could this thief do? What
could he do? He was nailed hand and foot to
the cross. He could literally, literally
do nothing for his own soul. I'll tell you some things that
show you that salvation is by grace. It's not by any ordinance. We're going to take the Lord's
table and we baptize people. But ordinance and ceremonies,
they're not absolutely needful for a soul to be saved. Here
was a man who wasn't baptized. He was still on a cross. He had
never been baptized. John the Baptist baptized Christ
himself and he said that's what it takes to fulfill all righteousness
he never joined a church and come and sit in a church like
this one here a visible church he never ever took any bread
or wine didn't take the Lord's Supper he never walked an aisle never come to the front Never
got on an altar. Never ever come and gave his
10% his tithe. There was no soul winner there
to convince him to accept Jesus. There was nobody there saying
now let's pray the sinner's prayer, repeat after me. No, no. What did he do? He said, Lord,
remember me. I'm fixing to leave this world.
And you're the only one that I can look to to do anything
for me. Only one. Only one. Let me just give you a few things
in closing. You know how God saved this thief
on this cross. That's the way the salvation
is always the same. It has never changed. Never changed. Repentance toward God and faith
in the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ the same today,
yesterday, and forever. God said, I am God and I change
not. Therefore, you sons of Jacob,
you are not content. Here's the second thing I want
you to think about. He lives, he sits in God's right hand,
who saved this dying thief. You know what that tells me? There's hope for any sinner that'll
look to the Lord Jesus Christ. Thirdly, no one, absolutely no
one, ever received greater assurance that his sins were forgiven than
this dying thief. You know what our Lord said to
him? Today. Not tomorrow. Not in eternity. Not tonight. Today. Thou shalt, now listen to this,
be with me in paradise. I mean the moment a man leaves
this world, he goes to be with Christ. Huh? Oh, I tell you. And that's, do
you know what heaven is? It's to be with me, to be with
Him. That's what He said. As He says,
you're going to be with me. With me. I'm not going to forget you. You're going to go and be with
me, huh? Oh my. The moment a believer
leaves this world, his soul is in perfect, perfect happiness.
There's no waiting period. There's no mysterious delay. And there's certainly no purgatory. And here's the first soul who
went to be with the Lord Jesus Christ. after he died on that
cross. When our Lord said he was finished,
they came by and those fellows, it was a high and a holy day,
and they came to make sure all those men were dead so they could
get them off the cross. They came up, they seen this
one thief still alive, they wrested him back with a big old hammer,
boom, broke his legs. So he couldn't hold himself up,
so he died real quick. They came to the Lord Jesus Christ
and he was already dead. Huh? Because he was already finished.
And that feet was washed in the blood. First one to go into glory. And they done the other seat
the same way. But I tell you what. There's two thieves, J.C. Ryle said this, there was two
thieves, one saved that none should despair, but only one
that none should presume. Oh, God saves me in the same
way He saved this thief. God save us. Save us, save us,
save us. Turn us and we shall be turned. Oh, our Lord, our great, great,
great, great, great, glorious and holy and righteous, blessed
God in heaven. In the precious, oh, the glorious
name of your Son, the Lord Jesus, thank you for meeting with us
today. Thank you for your gospel. Thank You for the truth. Thank
You for salvation by grace. Thank You that salvation is a
revelation. Thank You that You can save a
man that has no abilities. And it's obvious that man has
none. So Lord, work in people's hearts
here today that they cry, Oh God, be merciful to me, the sinner. Move in their hearts to do like
this dying thief. Lord have mercy, Lord remember
me. You justly to condemn me, justly
to find me guilty. But oh Lord, I come to you. Remember me. Remember me. You're the king. You got a kingdom. I want to
be in that kingdom. We ask these things in Christ's
name. Amen. Amen.