Today I say unto thee, today,
verse 43 of Luke 23, I say unto, verily, truly, honestly, Christ
said to this thief, verily I say unto thee, today shalt thou be
with me in paradise. I call this saying the word of
eternal life. Because that's what he's talking
about, paradise. The word of eternal life. This
is our Lord's words from the cross, preaching from the cross.
The word of eternal life, this paradise. What is paradise? Paradise
is the place in the Bible, it's a word used, not very often,
but it's used to stand for the place of eternal bliss and happiness. Eternal life where believers,
after they die, go to be with the Lord. Paradise is, you might
say, heaven. Paradise and heaven are to be
with Christ. I know in the book of Revelation
and elsewhere they talk about streets of gold and gates of
pearl and all of that, but that's symbolic language too. I guarantee
you this, those of our brethren who have gone on to meet the
Lord, they're not sitting around talking about streets of gold
and gates of pearl, they're talking about our Lord and our Savior. The Apostle Paul wrote of a man,
probably himself, who was caught up to paradise in 2 Corinthians
12, probably referring to heaven, and he went on to say that this
man I quote, heard unspeakable words which is not lawful for
a man to utter. And what do you think he meant
by that? I think what he meant is what he saw was indescribable. There's no human words that I
can say to you that would give you an idea or fully explain
what I saw. I believe that's what it is.
You know, he said one time, now we see through a glass darkly.
But we do see. We see the glory of God in the
face of Jesus Christ. But John said that when we go
to be with the Lord, we'll see him as he is. Paul said, we'll
know as we have been known. But this is paradise. There's always been a separation
of believers and unbelievers after death. The righteous have
always gone to paradise. The wicked have always gone to
hell. That's what most theologians
say. It seems that paradise and hell
are temporary holding places, not a purgatory now. No such
thing as that. That's blasphemy. That's ungodly. That's unscriptural.
But our brethren in the Lord have gone to be with Him in spirit
and until the day when Christ comes back to judge the world
in righteousness. And that's, they'll come with
Him. And then we'll be caught up or raised to be with Him. But the Lord assures this man,
this thief, this malefactor, that he'll be with Him eternally.
That's the key. This is the word of eternal life.
Now let me begin by asking you some questions before we get
into the details of this thief. First of all, who has eternal
life according to the scripture? Who has eternal life? Well, according
to God's word, it has nothing to do with anyone who's earned
it or deserves it. Start off there. If you have
eternal life, and all the blessings and benefits that go along with
eternal life. Here's one thing you can know,
you didn't deserve it, you didn't earn it, it wasn't conditioned
on you, and you didn't do anything to get it. It's a free gift by
virtue of the merits of Christ, the power of Christ, and Him
alone, His righteousness alone, His blood alone. The man on the
middle cross here is doing what is necessary to earn eternal
life for his people. That's what he's doing. So when
you ask the question, who has eternal life, what does the scripture
say? Well, the Bible tells us that all whom God chose in Christ
before the foundation of the world, that they have eternal
life. In the book of Acts chapter 13,
Verse 48, listen to this. It says, when the Gentiles heard
this, they heard the gospel that Paul was preaching, they were
glad and glorified the word of the Lord, and listen to this,
and as many as were ordained to eternal life believed. As many as were ordained. Well,
when were they ordained? Well, God looked down through
the telescope of time and foresaw who would believe. These who
believed, they believed because they were already ordained to
eternal life. They didn't know they were ordained
to eternal life. I didn't know I was ordained
to eternal life, but when God brought me to believe the gospel
by his power, by his spirit, then I found out. In the book
of John chapter 17 and verse 2, the high priestly prayer of
Christ, it says, Christ praying to the Father, he says, Father,
as thou hast given him, talking about himself, power over all
flesh, that he should give eternal life, the free gift, to as many
as thou hast given him. That's what it is to be ordained
to eternal life. It means to be given to Christ. When were they given to Him?
Before the foundation of the world. He was made their surety. All their sins were charged to
Him. And He became their surety. Given
to Him. And what does he say about all
those that are given to him? In John 6, 37, he says, all that
the Father giveth to me shall come to me. Now you don't know
that you're ordained to eternal life and given to Christ before
the foundation of the world until you come to Christ. And you come
to Christ not by your own will, not by your own power, not by
your own goodness, but by the power of God and the new birth. And somebody says, well, then
it doesn't matter what I do. I don't have to hear the gospel.
It doesn't matter if I come to him or not. If I'm ordained,
if I'm given, that's all. No, now listen. Don't play God. You're not God. You're a sinner
who needs salvation. That's what you are. That's what
I am. Do you need salvation by God's grace? The answer is yes.
You either believe that or you don't. Here's what Christ says
in John 6, 37. All that the Father giveth me shall come to me, and
him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out. I've heard
people say, well, if I'm not ordained to eternal life, if
I'm not chosen of God, if I'm not given to Christ, it doesn't
matter. If I come to Him and I'm not
ordained or given or chosen, I won't get eternal life even
though I want it. No, no. If you're ordained to
eternal life, at some point in time, He'll bring you under the
preaching of the gospel, and He'll give you a new heart, a
new spirit, a new will. And you'll desire to come to
Him, and you will. The Bible also, who has eternal
life? Those who are ordained to eternal
life. The Bible also tells us that the righteous have eternal
life. When the Lord's speaking a parable
of judgment, talking about he, the great judge, separating the
sheep from the goats in Matthew 25, listen to verse 46, talking
about the sheep, the chosen ones, believers. And here's what he
says, these shall go away Unbelievers shall go away into everlasting
punishment, but the righteous into eternal life. But now that
ought to raise a question in your mind automatically. He says
the righteous shall go into eternal life. Didn't he write by the
Apostle Paul in Romans 3 in verse 10, there's none righteous, no
not one. Isn't that what the Bible says? Doesn't the Bible say there's
none good but God? So here's the next question.
How does one attain eternal life? How do I attain eternal life? Well in the book of Romans chapter
five, listen to this in verse 21. It says that as sin hath
reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness
unto eternal life, listen, by Jesus Christ our Lord. Here's
the fact of the matter, none of us attain eternal life. Jesus Christ attained eternal
life by his death for his people, wherein he put away all the sins
of his people, where he worked righteousness for his people,
which God has imputed, charged, accounted to them. That's a free
gift. God declares His people, sinners
saved by grace, righteous by charging, accounting, reckoning,
imputing the righteousness of Christ to them. That's why Paul
wrote in Romans 4, 6, of the blessedness of the man to whom
the Lord imputeth righteousness without works. God gives his
people eternal life because of Christ's righteousness imputed
to them. The Bible says in Romans 8 and verse 10 that this body,
this physical body is dead because of sin, but the spirit is life
because of righteousness. So yes, the righteous have eternal
life, but they're not made righteous in themselves. They're not made
righteous by their works. They're made righteous by the
grace of God through the merits of the obedience unto death of
the Lord Jesus Christ. And who are they? Well, again,
who has eternal life? Well, who has God chosen before
the foundation of the world? Who has God given to Christ before
the world began? To whom has God imputed Christ's
righteousness, justified them based on the blood of Christ?
Well, listen to these verses. Here's 1 John 5. Listen to verse
11. It says, and this is the record, talking about the scriptures,
this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life. And this life is in his Son. He that hath the Son hath life. Do you have the Son? And he that
hath not the Son of God hath not life. And then in verse 13
he says, these things have I written unto you that believe on the
name of the Son of God. that you may know that you have
eternal life and that you may believe on the name of the Son
of God. So whom has God given eternal life? Whom has God chosen
and given to Christ? Whom has God imputed the righteousness
of Christ to? Every sinner who has been born
again by the Spirit and brought to faith in Christ. Do you believe
in him? Do you trust him? Have you submitted
to his righteousness as your only ground of salvation? and
justification before God. Romans 10, 4 says, Christ is
the end, the finishing, the fulfilling, the completion, the perfection
of the law for righteousness to everyone that believeth. Listen
to John 3, 14. As Moses lifted up the serpent
in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up,
that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal
life. Verse 16, for God so loved the
world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believeth
in him should not perish but have everlasting life. That's
not talking about God loved everybody without exception. That's not
saying that Christ died for everybody without exception. In fact, a
literal Interpretation from the original language of John 3.16
would go like this, for God loved the world in this manner, that
he gave his only begotten son in order that all the believing
ones in him should not perish, but possess everlasting life. That's talking about God's people
all over the world for whom Christ died. Christ said in John 10.28,
speaking of his sheep for whom he died, He said, I give unto
them eternal life, they shall never perish. Whoever he's talking
about, they'll never perish. Neither shall any man pluck them
out of my hand. Let me ask you this question. What is the nature of eternal
life? What is it about? Well, that means that everything's
gonna go well on this earth. No, not at all. John 17.3, again,
Christ's high priestly prayer. He says, this is life eternal,
that they might know thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ,
whom thou hast sent. Eternal life is to know God through
Christ. To know upon what ground a holy
and just God can love me, bless me, have mercy upon me, be gracious
to me, and accept me. Upon what ground? the glorious
person and the finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ. How
does a sinner come to know God through Jesus Christ? Well, listen
to John 6, 68, Christ walking in his public ministry Multitudes
followed him and then when they got discouraged or disenchanted,
they left and Christ turned to his disciples and he said, will
you go away also? And Peter said this in John 6,
68. Then Simon Peter answered him, Lord, to whom shall we go?
Thou hast the words of eternal life. The gospel. of Jesus Christ and Him crucified,
buried and raised from the dead. The gospel wherein the righteousness
of God is revealed. Listen to 1 John 5 and verse
20. We know that the Son of God has
come and has given us an understanding that we may know Him that is
true and we are in Him that is true, even in His Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God and this
is eternal life. Now consider the word of eternal
life as spoken by our Lord on the cross to this thief. Here we have the historical account
of Christ crucified between two thieves. Now these thieves, we
don't know their names, but we know this, they're criminals.
They're thieves, they're malefactors. They're great and notorious sinners. Am I a sinner? Well of course
I am. But the problem is this, by nature
we don't know how much of a sinner we really are. Man by nature
thinks he has some spark of goodness or some spark of will whereby
he can make the difference between being saved and being lost. Christ
did his part, now I've got to make the difference. That's what
man by nature believes. But God's Word says that apart
from the justifying, redeeming work of Christ on the cross and
the life-giving work of Christ through the Holy Spirit, none
of us would choose Him. None of us would believe in Him.
None of us would receive Him. Christ said, you've got to be
born again or you cannot see or enter the kingdom of heaven.
And this is just as true of these two thieves. Here we have God's man, the God-man,
Christ, in between two thieves. And according to Matthew's account,
both these thieves at first started reviling, rejecting, mocking
Christ, right along with the crowd. No doubt, these were sinners
who deserved their punishment. Mark wrote in his gospel that
this was the fulfillment of Isaiah's prophecy And we know this is
true of Christ as surety of God's elect, having our sins imputed
to Him. But here's these two thieves,
both railing on Christ. But then something miraculous
and amazing, astounding happened. And Luke records it. Now there
is no contradiction. You have some differences in
the accounts. the historical accounts, but
it's just like, men, we write what we see, that's what Matthew's
doing, that's what Mark does, that's what Luke does, that's
what John does. They may not have seen everything
that each other saw. And so they recorded it as they
saw, and the Lord put it down in his holy, inerrant word for
his specific purposes in that specific gospel. But Luke records,
Something that he heard from somebody, but this is inspired
by the Spirit for Luke to record it. And it's something miraculous. Something astounding. It illustrates
the way of life. The Bible says, by grace are
you saved through faith, that not of yourselves, it's the gift
of God. Not of works, lest any man should boast. And then it
says in Ephesians 2.10, listen, for we are his workmanship. A sinner saved by grace, a believer,
a justified person, redeemed, a child of God. They're the work
of God, created in Christ Jesus, based upon the blood and righteousness
of Christ. Not of works, but we're created
in Christ Jesus unto good works, which are the fruit which God
hath before ordained that we should walk in them." The one
who ordained that they have eternal life. And so we know all of this illustrates
the way of life. And obviously this thief, this
thief who began to change, whom God changed, Listen to what he says. Here,
the thief on the left, verse 39, one of the malefactors, which
were hanged, railed on him. Now, they both railed on him
at first, saying, if thou be the Christ, save thyself and
us. But now, all of a sudden, in
verse 40, the other, answering, rebuked him, rebuked the thief
on the left, saying, dost not thou fear God? Do you not fear
God? Think about it. He says, seeing
thou art in the same condemnation, the same as the one upon whom
he's railing, and we indeed justly, we're getting what we deserve,
he says. For we receive the due reward of our deeds. I hear people
talking about going to judgment and receiving the due reward
of their deeds. You know what that means? That
means damnation. But this man hath done nothing
amiss. He recognized that there was
no sin in Christ. And then he said unto Christ,
Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom. Think about
it. Now, obviously, this thief had
no works to recommend himself unto God. Whatever his situation
was concerning a right relationship with God and eternal life, he
was totally dependent upon the work of Christ on that middle
cross. But here's the way of death also
illustrated, unbelief persisting through death. That's what that
thief on the left represents. He was a sinner who died in unbelief
and the wrath of God abided upon him. Some today would say, well,
God loved both of these thieves equally, and Christ died for
both of them equally. But the thief who believed of
his own free will, as they say, came to his senses and finally
made the right choice. He chose Christ. But my friend,
according to God's word, that's not the case. First, it denies
the scripture. that say God hates all workers
of iniquity. Psalm five and verse five. And
that Christ died only for his sheep. God's elect. Think about
it. God hates all, you know, today
people don't want to think about God hating anybody. But here's
what he said. God hateth all workers of iniquity.
Psalm five, five. Well, aren't I a worker of iniquity?
Not in God's sight. Because what he's talking about
there, think about it. God hates all workers of iniquity
to whom iniquity is imputed. Didn't David say in Psalm 32,
blessed is the man to whom the Lord imputeth not iniquity. Who
shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? You see, that's
the key. I'm a sinner in myself, but God does not charge me with
my sins. He charged my sins to Christ.
But secondly, it would be saying that this thief on the right
was a better thief than the thief on the left. He's just a better
guy. They both were rebellious, but
the thief on the right, he was less rebellious. That's not the
case. The Bible says if we're left
to ourselves, none of us would choose Christ. Thirdly, it would
deny other scriptures that say before a person believes, he
must be born again. Was this thief born again? Yes,
he was. How do you know? He turned to
Christ. He believed in Christ. When was
he born again on that cross? There was an illustration given
on this that I believe is helpful. The lost thief, and it's an illustration
of prepositions. The lost thief represents on
and in. He had sin in him and sin on
him, imputed to him. The saved thief represents in
but not on. He had sin in him, he was a sinner,
but not on him, not imputed to him. And Christ represents on
and not in. He had sin on Him, imputed to
Him. He was made sin. The sins of
His sheep was imputed to Him. But He had no sin in Him. This
man hath done nothing amiss. Even that thief on the cross,
newly converted, knew more sound theology than a lot of preachers
I know today who've been reading the Bible for 40 years, 50 years.
Christ had no sin in Him. He was made sin only by the imputation
of the sins of His people to His account. But He never became
corrupted with that sin. I'm going to talk about that
in a later message in more detail. He never became contaminated
with our sins. And the point is simply that
in the case of the dying thief who was brought by God to believe
and repent, sin was in him, but it was not on him. Because having
believed on Christ, He gave evidence that the benefits of our Lord's
saving work had been reckoned, imputed to Him. And again now,
I don't want you to misunderstand. In the case of our Lord, sin
was upon Him. It was imputed to Him. He was
guilty! But not by any contamination
or impartation or infusion. of sin, he was guilty by imputation. And he died justly for the sins
of his people imputed to him. But sin was never in him. He
remained holy, harmless, undefiled in himself. Every thought that
he had, every motive within his heart was pure, perfect, holy,
and righteous. But in the case of that lost
thief, the other thief hanging on the other side, he was not
only a sinner, but his sin was charged to him personally. Now
how can I know if my sins are charged to me or not? Well, if
my sins are not charged to me, but Christ's righteousness is
imputed to me, At some point in time, God's gonna bring me
under the preaching of the gospel. He's gonna give me a new heart.
I'll be born again by the Spirit, and I'll believe in the Lord
Jesus Christ. This believing thief was one
whom God loved in Christ with an everlasting love. He was one
whom God chose in Christ. He's one whom God justified in
and by Christ. He was one redeemed by the blood
of Christ. He was one who was born again
by the Spirit of Christ under the truth. The unbelieving thief,
sadly, was a vessel of wrath from the beginning, whom God
hated, whom God rejected, who was not justified, redeemed,
or born again. He died an unbeliever. And you
know what? Christ, the one on the middle
cross, made all the difference. The believing thief had no boast
over the unbelieving thief. The only thing the believing
thief could boast in is the cross. God forbid that I should glory
save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. One of our favorite
hymns, there is a fountain filled with blood drawn from Emmanuel's
veins and sinners plunge beneath that flood, lose all their guilty
stains. And one of the verses says this,
the dying thief rejoiced to see that fountain in his day, and
there may I, though vile as he, wash all my sins away. Here's
one of the most astounding and amazing displays of God's grace
to save his people, based on the one ground of the blood of
the Lord Jesus Christ, his righteousness imputed, that you'll ever find.
And there was no question about these two thieves as to whether
or not they had worked under righteousness for salvation.
They had not. And the believing thief said
that. He said in verse 40, does not thou fear God? No man by
nature fears God, Romans 3, 18. But now this thief began to fear
God. He began to worship God. He began
to respect God. And here's how he did it. He
says, he said, dost thou not fear God, seeing thou art in
the same condemnation, and we indeed justly? You see, when
you begin to fear God, you'll see that if God were to ever
give you what you've earned or deserved, based on your best,
it would be damnation. If you fear God, you'll know
that if you're saved, if you have eternal life, it's grace,
grace, grace, saved by grace, kept by grace, glorified by grace,
all based upon the merits of Christ's righteousness alone.
He said, we indeed justly, for we received the due reward of
our deeds, but this man hath done nothing amiss. Ask the question, Think about
this. If you were to compare this man
to one like, let's say like Saul of Tarsus, Saul in all of his religion,
all of his striving to be righteous. Look at this thief. Who was in
need of God's grace the most? The thief or Saul? Was it the
thief? The world would say yes. Or was
it Saul of Tarsus? Well, here's what God's Word
says. Not one of them was more in need of God's grace than the
other, that they were both equally in need of God's grace. Saul
of Tarsus, in his religion, was no closer to making himself righteous
and earning his salvation than this thief. In fact, let's say
for the sake of making a point, if this thief had met Saul before
this and before Saul's conversion to Christ, And Saul talked to
this thief and talked him into a religious profession, a reformation,
which would have been Jewish legalism and tradition at that
time. What does the word of the Lord
say would be this thief's condition? Well, if you read Matthew 23,
15, Saul would only have made him
twofold more the child of hell than he was. Oh, my friend, think
about it. We are all equally in need of
God's grace, in need of a righteousness we cannot produce. You know,
it's common for people to read about this thief's conversion
on the cross and make two very grave, deadly errors. Some use
the thief as an excuse to delay because they see this as a deathbed
confession, and that's possible. But the Bible says, listen, you're
not promised another day. Behold, now is the accepted time. Behold, now is the day of salvation. Remember the parable of the rich
fool that Christ spoke of in Luke chapter 12. And the man
was going about his business, attaining his wealth, building
bigger barns. And all of a sudden, the Lord
says, thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee.
And then shall these things be which thou hast provided. Others
use this to excuse ignorance, claim salvation because they
reason, well the thief didn't hear the gospel, he didn't know
anything, so I can be saved without hearing the gospel and knowing
anything. But the scripture says otherwise. The scripture says
the gospel is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that
believes. It doesn't say to everyone except
the thief. The Scripture says faith comes
by hearing and hearing by the Word of God, except for the thief.
No. We're not told everything here
about this man's life, but he was a Jew. He grew up under the
teachings of the law. And listen to his own words.
We can trace his spiritual rebirth back to the words he speaks.
He speaks of Christ. His words are a confession of
sin. It's clear that both thieves already knew something of Jesus
of Nazareth's claim of Messiahship. If thou be the Christ, save us,
save thyself and us, they said. But the other thief recognized
the extent of his sin in light of the justice of God. Do you
not fear God? We indeed justly, we receive
the due reward of our deeds. Remember, the natural man has
no fear of God before his eyes. The natural man receives not
the things of the Spirit. He will not confess the reality
of his own sinfulness. And this confession comes by
the Spirit of God through Christ. He will convict the world of
sin because they believe not on me. And this is a confession
of Christ. Both his person and his finished
work. The believing thief recognized
the sinlessness of Christ. This man had done nothing amiss.
And in spite of the fact that Christ came under the same condemnation,
any Jew brought up under the old covenant law would know something
of the innocent suffering in the place of the guilty. The
multitude of lambs that were slain. Substitution, satisfaction. And I believe this man applied
that to what he saw in Christ, the gospel. He confessed Christ
to be the Messiah. He said unto Jesus, Lord, remember
me when you come into your kingdom. How in the world could you think
of somebody dying on a cross coming into a kingdom? This is
God the Son incarnate. This is the Messiah. Some of
the other manuscripts say that he said, Jesus, remember me when
you come into your kingdom. That means salvation. A sinner dying as a sinner based
upon his sins does not come into a kingdom. But the thief was
taught of the Lord that Christ would rise again unto eternal
life and come into his kingdom. The kingdom of God made up of
his sheep, his church, his redeemed ones. And Christ's death therefore
could not have been for his own sinfulness. This man had done
nothing amiss. because he had done nothing to
deserve it. So whose sins then was he dying for? Well, the Old
Testament taught that it was for his chosen people whom God
would bring to confess and receive him. The Old Testament also taught
that no one would come into the kingdom of God without righteousness. Where do you imagine the thief
thought he could find righteousness? Only in Christ, his blood. He said, remember me, call to
mind, the Lord's memory. He'll remember his people, but
not their sins. What does that mean? He knows
them, he remembers them, he loves them, he saved them, but he will
not charge them with their sins. The words of eternal life spoken
by the Lord to the dying thief. Verily I say unto thee, today
shalt thou be with me in paradise. That's the promise. of peace
and assurance, the promise given to every one of God's people
through Christ.