As I mentioned in Sunday school, my prayer, my burden is that
you see Christ and nothing else. That you see Christ through this
study. In any passage that we open,
if we're not seeing Christ in it, we're worse than wasting
our time. And that's my prayer, that's
my burden. I keep your pastor in my mind and in my prayer as
well as many other pastors. Not being one, I can't imagine
what they do, this burden. multiple times a week. The burden
of declaring the gospel and not getting in the way of it. The
burden of the congregation here that I know that he feels for
you all. Keep him uplifted before the Lord. Just as Moses' arms
were, he had helpers lifting those arms upright. And we can
do that for our pastors through prayer. We can help them keep
their arms up through prayer and be strengthened. I pray that
we see Christ together here this morning. So these two texts that
we're looking at, these two passages in Matthew 27 and also in Luke
23, these are two accounts of Christ's crucifixion. And the
title of this message is Two Views of Christ on the Cross.
Two Views of Christ on the Cross. And when we read through these,
pay particular attention to those thieves. Those thieves who were
crucified at the same time that our Lord Jesus Christ was. And
these thieves, they outline our focus for us today. All four
gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, all four gospel accounts,
they all mention these thieves. They were crucified at the same
time that our Lord was. And this always, this staggers
me. These thieves saw him with their
own physical eyes, with their own eyes. They saw the Lord,
they saw Christ with their own eyes, and they interacted with
him. They spoke to him, he spoke to them. And what did they see? And what did they say? And more
importantly, what did Christ say to them? So watch for that
as we read through. I'll read through both accounts.
Watch for those thieves. In Matthew 27, we'll start in
verse 29. When they had plaited a crown
of thorns, they put it upon his head, and a reed in his right
hand, and they bowed the knee before him, and mocked him, saying,
Hail, King of the Jews. And they spit upon him, and took
the reed, and smote him on the head. And after that they had
mocked him, they took the robe off of him, and put his own raiment
on him, and led him away to crucify him. And as they came out, they
found a man of Cyrene, Simon by name, him they compelled to
bear his cross. And when they were come unto
a place called Golgotha, which is to say a place of a skull,
they gave him vinegar to drink, mingled with gall. And when he
had tasted thereof, he would not drink, and they crucified
him, and parted his garments, casting lots, that it might be
fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet. They parted my garments
among them, and upon my vesture did they cast lots. And sitting
down, they watched him there, and set up over his head his
accusation, written, This is Jesus, the King of the Jews.
Then were there two thieves crucified with him, one on the right hand
and another on the left. And they that passed by reviled
him, wagging their heads, and saying, Thou that destroyest
the temple and buildest it in three days, save thyself, if
thou be the Son of God, come down from the cross. Likewise,
also the chief priests, mocking him with the scribes and elders,
said, he saved others himself he cannot save. If he be the
king of Israel, let him now come down from the cross, and we will
believe him. He trusted in God. Let him deliver him now, if he'll
have him. For he said, I am the son of God. The thieves also,
which were crucified with him, they both cast the same in his
teeth. And now turn with me over to
Luke chapter 23. Luke chapter 23, starting in
verse 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, 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 not
thou 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 Jesus,
Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom. And Jesus said
unto him, Verily, truly, I say unto thee, today shalt thou be
with me in paradise. A dying man's words can be very,
very powerful. And when we're facing death,
Oftentimes, most times, all the unimportant and trivial things
are just burned away, and we're able to focus on what is true
and what really matters to us. We're left at that time with
as close to pure truth as we will ever know coming from ourselves
in this world. A dying person's last words,
what really matters and what is really true, comes out. That's
why deathbed confessions, they're admissible in court, right? Because
they're generally true and unfiltered. Deathbed confessions. You've
heard the phrase, there's no atheists in foxholes, right?
In the middle of war, when facing almost certain death, the truth
comes out. The truth comes out that we humans, we're desperately
concerned about our souls. And the Lord puts that conscience
within us. And we can bury it. We can bury
it with the busyness of life or with some other confidence. I'm struck frequently by just
how noisy the world is. We get in our car and immediately
turn on the radio. We hop in the house and we immediately
turn on the radio. There is noise distracting our minds always. We can be distracted from what
truly is, from what is true, by all these distractions, by
all this noise, and all that goes away on deathbed. Or that
could be seared by our own rejection of Christ. But when all that
is stripped away and we're left with the truth, and that truth
is often revealed just so clearly on a person's deathbed, And here
we've read two accounts of three men who are on their deathbed.
Three men. On their deathbed. And these
are their deathbed words, and I'm interested in that. I'm interested
in those words. The thieves are dying. They're dying. And they're seeing Christ with
their own eyes. And what they say reveals a lot. Reveals their truth, if you will. What do they say on their deathbed?
And Christ is going to die. Christ our Savior is going to
die. And he speaks to these thieves. What does our Lord say to them
on his deathbed? Well, let's begin with what both
thieves are saying. I'm particularly interested specifically
in these thieves because that's such a good representation of
me, a thief, a thief. That's such a good representation
of me and of all sinners and of all of Adam's race. Look here,
I'm back in Matthew, Matthew chapter 27. Verse 44 says, the
thieves also which were crucified with him, they cast the same
in his teeth. There was no difference. They
railed on him the same way everybody else was. Both thieves were saying
the same thing everybody else was saying. In their deathbed
confession of truth, both thieves were confessing their hatred
of God. On their deathbed, when all other things are stripped
away and you're left with base truth of who we are as thieving
sinners, our hatred of God comes right out. They cast the same
in His teeth. They were openly challenging
God's authority. Again, in Matthew 27, look in verse 40. They were
openly challenging His authority, saying, Thou hast destroyed the
temple and buildest it in three days, save thyself. If thou be
the Son of God, come down from the cross. They were mocking
Him and openly, openly challenging His authority. They were openly stating their
own superiority. Look in the next few verses there
in 41. Likewise also the chief priests
mocking him, the scribes and the elders said, he saved others,
himself he cannot save. If he be the king of Israel,
let him now come down from the cross and we'll believe him.
He trusted in God, let him deliver him now if he'll have him. For
he said, I'm the son of God. There openly, to our Lord's face,
openly, denying his authority, openly stating their own superiority,
saying, in essence, I'm God over you. Otherwise, you'd be here
with me instead of here on that cross. Come down if you can,
openly challenging him. And the thieves also, in their
moment of truth, in their hour of truth, are casting their hate
of our God. You're no better than me. We
will not have this man reign over us. Isn't that what the
scripture says? Furthermore, they're saying, I have no need
of a sacrifice. What I'm doing and who I am is
sufficient. I'm sufficient. Casting their
hate on God. And this is a picture of every
sinner. Every sinner. Every fallen son of Adam is pictured,
these two thieves. Thieves. We deny Christ's inherent
authority as God. We rebel against Christ's authority
over us. We reject our own guilt before
Christ. if God leaves us alone. We did that in our father, Adam.
We've been doing it ever since. The fact that we continue to
do that, as I mentioned in Sunday school this morning, it's evidence
of the nature that's within us, from the heart, through the mouth. We speak those lies that spew
forth from our dead nature that we inherited from our father.
Why is this attitude of rejecting God's authority and challenging
God's authority, rejecting our own guilt before Christ, not
admitting in our moment of truth, in our deathbed truth, even then,
not admitting who we are as fallen sinners. I've got a little, I'm
not dead dead. No, we're dead dead. Not admitting
our spiritual absolute death. not recognizing and honoring
and worshiping his absolute life and authority. Why is that evil? Why is it evil, not just wrong,
but evil to think that I do enough for God to accept me? When I
was a sophomore in college, I was troubled Anyone with two
cells in their brain can read through this and realize, you
read through the Bible, you recognize you better be troubled, right?
Outside of Christ, I better have a lamb. I better have a sacrifice.
You can have no knowledge whatsoever in your heart. We have any intellect
whatsoever you can read through here. And that's where I was,
intellectually reading through saying, oh, I'm in trouble. And my college roommate said,
why are you worried? You do a lot for God. That's
what he told me. That was his human advice of comfort to me.
was, don't worry, you do a lot for God. That's a common thought, balancing
out our good and our bad, right? Gavin and I were at the Sloan
Museum yesterday, and they did some trader things where you
put buttons on one side of a scale and buttons on another side of
a scale, and you try to balance that out. How perverted and evil
is that? But that's in every single one.
That is in us. If we're left alone, that is in us to think
that I can tilt the scales based on something that I do because
I'm judging whatever this is that I do as good and that I'm
going to please God with it. Why is that evil? Not just misguided,
not just uneducated, not just wrong, but evil. When we, by
nature, believe that God should accept us based on anything other
than Christ's merit, Christ's perfect, sinless sacrifice, it
goes to prove that the depths of our depravity, this is evidence
of death, it goes to prove the depths of our depravity that
I would think, left to myself, that who I am deserves to be
treated as an equal with God, that I would think that, left
to myself. Who else has the right to walk into the king's presence
other than an equal? Who has the right to walk into
my house? Gavin, who has the right to walk into our house?
Right, Gavin, Rosalie, Stacey. They have a right to walk into
the house and me because the house is equally ours together.
It's ours, right? Because we're equal. But we believe
by nature that we have that same relationship with God the Father.
We believe that by nature. And again, just like I said in
Sunday School, you hear those words out loud and you think
to yourself, that's ridiculous. But it's true, that is what we
believe left to ourselves, that evidence of that spiritual death
and blindness, the judicial blindness, that that's our reasoning. That's
the work that we come up with, left to ourselves, is that we're
equal with God. For us to believe that we deserve
that same acceptance with God, it reveals that nature that was
in us and that Adam had when he first took that fruit to be
equal with God. Reveals that same rebellious nature that Cain
had. He brought the works of his hands. He brought the works
of his hands because he didn't believe he needed a sacrifice.
He believed the works of his hands were good enough. Not just
good enough, but that they should be accepted. He believed the
works of his hands should be accepted. Evidence of spiritual
death. And we haven't progressed past
that. Left to ourselves. Left to ourselves, we do the
same thing Cain did. Evil works of our hands. Reveals the same
evil that Satan himself had when he said, I will be God. I will
be like God. Same evil. That's why it's evil,
not misguided. Evil. Evil. Evidence of that
spiritual death. A popular word that I hear a
lot today is entitlement. Did you feel yourself cringe
as soon as you heard that word? Entitlement. This attitude of
entitlement. Entitlement to God's acceptance. That's evidence of our spiritual
death, our spiritual rebellion, our spiritual blindness. that
we're only entitled to something that we're either equal with
or that we've earned, right? If we've earned it or that we're
equal, my children are entitled to go to school because they
live in the school district where I pay taxes. And everybody that lives
in that school district is entitled to go to that school and get
the same education that Gavin gets. They're entitled to go to that
school because we're citizens there. All the children, again,
live in that district and pay taxes there, can go to school
there. That feels foolish to say, but it's the truth to say
that we believe, we think so highly of ourselves and so lowly
of God that we think we're equals with him and therefore we're
entitled. We're entitled to his attention, to his grace, entitled to his goodness,
that's the word I'm looking for, that we believe we're entitled
to his goodness, that we're entitled to his presence, that we're entitled
to call upon his name. We believe that left to ourselves. Entitled to his goodness is evidence
of that spiritual death that we're born into. That's why.
That's why it's not just wrong, but rather it's so evil. Turn
over to Romans chapter 10. while you're turning it, when
we get a little understanding of that, perhaps we mentally
recognize that we're not equals with God. And this stirs up this
religious fervor, the fervor, the intent, this desperation
of knowing I am not equal with God. I'm guilty before a holy
God. Knowing that in my mind, maybe a little understanding
stirs that up. And this knowledge in and of
itself for generations, probably I guess for all of mankind, has
resulted in our race, our sinful race, just doing unimaginable
things. Remarkable acts in this effort
to please God through my actions, through myself. Somehow myself
can please God. We've done remarkable acts. And
I imagine many of them were from a genuine desire, a genuine desire
to rid myself of this crushing knowledge that God will not accept
me. We've seen self-denial, we've
seen mutilation, we've seen wars, we've seen child sacrifice. I
mean, there's pits in Mexico with bones at the bottom of them
where the Aztecs threw their children down. In some misguided,
evil, granted, but perhaps genuine, knowledge of the fact that I
am guilty before a holy God, we still, left to ourselves,
will not come to Christ. We'll do anything else, anything
else, but come to Christ, left to ourselves. To rid ourselves
of this knowledge, I'll do anything before God. Judas, Judas hung
himself. And that was his sacrifice. Remember Elijah and the prophets
of Baal? They had a blood sacrifice. They had an altar. They had an
altar and a blood sacrifice. They had their own blood because
they cut themselves on the altar and used their own blood. And
that was, they had a blood sacrifice. The thieves that we talked about
this morning, or that we're talking about now, pardon me, they have
a sacrifice. They're being crucified just
as our Lord was. Do any of those sacrifices give them the right
to call upon a holy God? Here in Romans 10, where I asked
you to turn, look in verses 2 and 3. Christ says, I bear them record. They have a zeal of knowledge.
or excuse me, they have a zeal of God, but not according to
knowledge. They have a zeal, but not according to knowledge.
For they, being ignorant of God's righteousness and going about
to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves
unto the righteousness of God, establishing their own righteousness.
The righteousness of God. If Lord will give us eyes to
see the righteousness of God, then we'll stop our works of
unrighteousness before God. Well, stop trying to please God. Stop trying to please God. Listen
to these accounts of people's reaction when they saw God's
righteousness, when they recognized God's holiness for what it is,
when they recognized who God is versus who we are. Then it
shut their mouths, and we stopped trying to please God. Listen
to a few examples. When Adam saw the Lord after
he had taken the fruit, he hid himself, and he was afraid. Job
saw the Lord, and he said, Job's words, I've heard of you by the
hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees you. Therefore, I abhor
myself. I repent. I repent of my good
works in dust and ashes. Jacob saw the Lord. He was afraid.
Moses saw the Lord. And he made haste, bowed his
head toward the earth, and worshiped. Isaiah saw the Lord. One of my
favorite verses in Isaiah 6, high and lifted up, and his train
filled the temple. And the cherubims flew, and they
covered their feet with their two wings, their heads with two
wings, and they flew with two wings, and they cried, holy,
holy, holy. And Isaiah saw that, and he said,
woe is me. I'm undone. Ezekiel saw the Lord
and he said, when I saw it, I fell upon my face. Peter, James, and
John saw the Lord on the Mount of Transfiguration. They fell
on their faces and they were sore afraid. When we see God's
righteousness, we may get a little knowledge
and have a zeal left to ourselves, left alone. God leaves us alone.
We may have a zeal establishing our own righteousness. Ah, but
if he gives us eyes in life to see the righteousness of God,
In every example, we say, woe is me. We shut our mouths and
we bow in the dust. That's a good place for a sinner
to be, in the dust. These men, they were all given
eyes to see. All these examples, Lord, in his goodness, saw fit
to not leave them alone, gave them eyes to see. In every example,
every one of them worshipped. They worshipped. There's no entitlement. Entitlement's gone. When we see
the Lord's righteousness, when we see God's holiness and God's
righteousness, entitlement is gone. No entitlement for sinners
before God Almighty. And any God, little g, that's
being worshiped today in men's hearts, that can be manipulated
by their actions, any God that can be manipulated by my actions,
is not God. That is an idol. We might as well be worshiping
a totem pole. We'd probably be better off worshiping a totem
pole than God little g that could be manipulated by my actions.
That is not the God of this Bible. That's made up God, created by
blind eyes. So why, why again? Why is this
attitude so evil? The attitude of the thieves that
rebels against Christ's absolute authority and denies their own
guilt before God. Why is that so evil? Because
it's idol worship. brought about by dead eyes and dead hearts
as a result of Adam's fall. It's this judicial blindness
and spiritual death that was promised to Adam when Adam first
rebelled against God, and it's evidenced by us still, Adam's
race from then on. If we were not blind, we would
see God for who he is, and we would worship. If we were not
dead, we would never imagine that anything that comes out
of my heart could ever be acceptable to a holy God. that anything
that comes out of this evil heart could be acceptable before a
holy and good and just and powerful and loving and omniscient and
omnipresent God Almighty could accept anything that is produced
by this dead heart. If I wasn't dead, I'd never imagine
that. Evidence of this death. If I weren't so naturally hateful,
I'd beg God for mercy. But instead, we still left alone,
left to ourselves. We still continue, we deny God's
throne, and we insist that we ourselves are God, if God leaves
us alone. We say that what these thieves
said, we would say the exact same thing, because we are the
same thing that these thieves are. Again, look here at Matthew
27, where the same thing that these thieves are. Let's back
up a little bit in Matthew 27 to verse 25. Then he answered all the people and
said, His blood be on us and our children. Then released he
Barabbas unto them. When he had scourged Jesus, he
delivered him to be crucified. Then the two soldiers of the
governor took Jesus into the common hall, gathered unto him
the whole band of soldiers. They stripped him, they put on
him a scarlet robe, and when they had plaited a crown of thorns,
they put it upon his head and a reed in his right hand, and
they bowed the knee before him and mocked him, saying, Hail,
King of the Jews! And they spit upon him. and took
the reed, and smote him on the head. After that they had mocked
him, they took the robe off of him, and put his own raiment
on him, and led him away to crucify him. Skip down a little bit to verse
39. And they that passed by reviled
him, wagging their heads, and saying, Thou that destroyest
the temple, and buildest it in three days, save thyself, if
thou be the Son of God, come down from the cross. Likewise
also the chief priests, mocking him with the scribes and elders,
said he saved others himself he cannot save. If he be the
king of Israel, let him now come down from the cross and we will
believe him. He trusted in God, let him deliver him now, if he'll
have him. For he said, I am the son of God. The thieves also,
which were crucified with him, cast the same in their teeth.
On their deathbed confessions, these thieves, proved themselves
to be exactly who they are. Sinful, dead rebels. And I pray
that we're given eyes to see ourselves right here. No, absolutely
no different. Left to myself. Absolutely no
different. I do, again, I find it interesting
that they're thieves. Thieves. Because a thief It's
such a good description of who I am before God. What's a thief's
character? What's a thief's makeup? A thief
lays claim to something that he or she has no right to lay
claim to, right? That's what a thief does. They
take what is not theirs. They lay claim to something they
have absolutely no right to. And we do that before our Heavenly
Father. We believe God owes us acceptance.
It's ours. We lay claim to something we
have no right to lay claim to. We're a thief. That is God's
acceptance. We have no right to lay claim
to God's acceptance. God's acceptance isn't ours to
lay claim to. It's not ours to earn. It's not ours to judge. It's not ours. Jonah says what? Jonah says salvation is of the
Lord. Salvation isn't ours to lay claim to. Salvation is of
the Lord. A thief lays claim to something
that's not theirs. A thief believes that he or she
is entitled to take what they're going to take. Through some justification
or excuse, this thief believes that he deserves what he's taking. This corrupt mind believes that
whatever we're doing, it's earning. It's earning what we're taking,
so it's mine. They earned it. That's what a
thief does. They earn. They think they earn.
They think they have a right to take what they've taken. But
God's word says, for by grace are ye saved through faith. And
that's not of yourself, the faith. It's the gift of God. Not of
works, lest any man should boast. Not of earning. Not of taking.
Salvation isn't ours to take. It's not ours to claim. It's
not ours to earn. Salvation is of the Lord. Without Christ, we try to earn
salvation through something that we're either doing or not doing.
Left to ourselves, that's exactly what we do. And I say to you,
thief, you can't. Sinner, you can't. With a little
bit of head knowledge, and we learn that faith is the key to
salvation. So we try to believe. I worked
for an assisted living home for a while, and there was one of
the employees there And just no matter what. I got
my faith. I got my faith. I got my faith.
Faith in what? Better question. Faith in whom?
So what good is just blindly believing, we can drive home
today, Gavin and I will, I'll blindly believe that I'm going
to pick up a lottery ticket and win it. Believe that all you want. It doesn't, what good is that?
What good is that? man-made faith. So we drum up
this, with a little bit of head knowledge, we drum up this frantic belief. And how many churches right now
are so noisy? We're not worshiping in noise
this morning, right? We want to hear Christ. We don't
want to hear me. We don't want to hear noise. We don't want
to hear someone drumming up excitement to get you to to feel good and
walk out that door just as lost and on your way to hell as you
were when you walked in? I don't want that. I'm so thankful that
some man stood in a pulpit and told me different, and told me,
no, no, no, no, Jonathan, no. You cannot approach unto a holy
God outside of Christ. You cannot, you must not. I don't
care how you walk in feeling and how you walk out feeling,
all drummed up and excited, it's just as dangerous as the
idol. Faith in God. Sinner, you can't drum that up.
You cannot drum that up. It's a gift, because salvation
is not ours. Neither is faith. That's what
the scripture says, right? And faith, not of yourself. It's
a gift of God. It's a gift. Can't drum it up.
All the excitement and feeling we can cling to. Man-made faith
is no different than Israel's zeal that we mentioned earlier.
It's a zeal for righteousness, but not after knowledge. By grace
are you saved through faith. And that faith is not of yourself.
It's a gift. It's not of me. How can it be
of me? I'm a thief. It's not of me. Faith is a gift
of God. Man-made faith is always zeal. And man-made faith always
points to something that you're doing or not doing. Always. Man-made
faith always points anywhere but Christ. God-given faith always
points only to Christ, only to Christ. Not something that I
do or do not hold on to, but Christ, regardless of how I feel. Restore unto me the joy of thy
salvation. And I've walked plenty of days
with my shoulders down, no joy whatsoever, plenty of
days. But joy of salvation, that's
different. The joy of God's salvation, that's
a gift, that's always there. Even if I'm not necessarily happy,
the joy of salvation is always there. And a thief, a thief believes
they're entitled to that, that they can take that or earn it
one way or another. That's a thief. And the worst
kind of thief is the one that steals from a good master. And
this isn't the make-believe story of Robin Hood stealing from the
rich and giving to the poor. I don't mean that. But to take from a
good master, the worst kind of thieves are the ones that take
from people that are good to them. The kind that help them
and they treat that thief as if their own. They provide for
them warmly and genuinely. Then the thief, who's already
been given everything, turns around and takes more. out of
spite, not even out of need. The thief's already been given
everything. They're not even out of need. They take out of
spite and out of evil from the good master. And that's exactly
who we are in Adam. We have to see ourselves where
we are. And we have to see God where he is before we can ever
run to Christ. That's who we are in Adam. In
Adam, we had everything. Everything was provided and was
provided in goodness and love and communion. We had everything. And we tried to steal God's authority. It wasn't enough. We tried to
steal God's authority. That's the worst kind of thief,
is the one that takes from a good master. And that's us. A thief has nothing to offer.
Last characteristic of a thief. A thief has nothing to offer.
A thief is in debt. The thief can't repay for what
they've taken. The thief isn't capable of repayment.
They're in debt. And even if we could, we've shown
by nature that we won't, even if we could, what the thief has
taken cannot be replaced. That's a thief. The thief has
betrayed the good master's confidence. It can't be replaced. In Adam,
we betrayed God's kindness and God's goodness and God's communion
And sure enough, left to ourselves with his dear son on the cross,
back to our text, on the cross, left to ourselves, we show that
we have not changed. Left to ourselves, we're still
thieves. We see God's goodness in the face of Christ. We see
God's mercy, God's authority in the face of Christ. And what
did we as a race do? We killed him for it. We haven't
changed. We've just proved our rebellion
once again. by refusing God's throne and crucifying his son.
Again, look there, still in Matthew 27. Verse 44, the thieves also
which were crucified with him, they cast the same in his teeth.
No different. And this could have been the
last mention of the thieves. Verse 44 could have been it.
They cast the same in his teeth, period. And that could have been
the last mention that we ever heard of the thieves. And God
would have been just Christ doesn't owe us anything. He doesn't owe
anything at all. The Christ hanging on this cross
with one thief on his left and one thief on his right owes those
thieves nothing, not even a glance, not even a response. Stacy and Rosalie were at a concert
in Charleston, West Virginia. And to get from where they were
to where they needed to go, they kind of walk a couple blocks
that are not so nice. And there's some people out there, and I
was reminding Stacy, don't even look at them. No eye contact,
no response, no words, keep walking. You don't owe them anything,
right? All these people are coming up, and they, just keep walking,
don't stop, don't even make eye contact, you don't owe them anything,
get to where you're going, right? Christ didn't owe these people
anything, not even a glance sideways at them. He didn't owe those
thieves not a thing. no attention whatsoever. Even
though they themselves were being crucified, their hatred was still
so strong. Even in the middle of their crucifixion,
they took the energy. Even though they're in the middle
of being crucified, their hate was so strong, they took the
energy to add to Christ's misery. That's our hatred of God. But
God, two of my favorite words in the scripture, but God. Look,
now turn back over to Luke chapter 23. Could have been the very last
mention we ever heard of these thieves. We're thinking back,
you know, what are the characteristics of the thief? Am I the kind of thief that has
no claim to God's salvation? Am I the kind of thief that needs
mercy, that must have mercy? Because there's no other way
that I could possibly obtain salvation or no other way that
I could possibly obtain faith, no other way that I could possibly
garner a holy God's attention or even a glance. Am I that kind
of thief? Nothing that I could do that
would make me worthy for Christ to even hear my prayer. One that isn't entitled to God's
favor whatsoever. And if you're that kind of thief
as I am, one that did steal from the good master. One that if
I was left to myself, I'd resent his authority and I would do
it again. One that has no entitlement whatsoever
to God's favor. And if you're that kind of thief,
I would encourage you to do what this thief has done. Hear the
word of the Lord and go beg for it anyway, even if you have no
right whatsoever in yourself. In fact, only if you have no
right whatsoever in yourself. Only if you have no right to
come before a holy God whatsoever and of yourself, then I tell
you, come to God in Christ. Come to God in Christ and beg
for mercy. I say with David in Psalm 84,
I'd rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than to dwell
in the tents of wickedness. And it's true. By his grace,
I also see the same thief that's in my flesh right now. Same thief
is in my flesh right now and can't be left alone. Are we those
worst kind of thieves that have nothing at all to offer, no reason
whatsoever of ourselves that God would love us? Are we those
kind of thieves? Then look here in Luke 23. starting in verse 39. 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. He said unto 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." The same thief who a second ago had been railing
against Christ completely changed his tune. God help us. Amen. He completely
changed his tune. This thief was given life right
here. He was given eyes to see. And from his deathbed, what did
this thief confess? Look here in verse 40. In verse
40, he confesses, I've sinned against God. But the other answering
rebuked him, saying, dost not thou fear God, seeing thou art
in the same condemnation? And we indeed justly. It's right
that I'm in this condemnation. On his deathbed, this thief's
deathbed confession changed to, And we indeed justly, I've sinned
against God. He confesses in verse 41, I deserve
death. He says, we receive the due reward
for our deeds. I've sinned against God. I deserve
death. He confesses Christ is sinless
because he says, but this man hath done nothing amiss. I've
sinned against God. I deserve death. Christ is sinless. I recognize the righteousness
of God now. He confesses in verse 42 that Christ doesn't owe me
anything. He said unto Jesus, Lord, remember me when thou comest
into thy kingdom. Sweet verse. Christ doesn't owe
me anything, but I'm making requests based solely on his goodness. Not on my request, not on my
faith, not on the eloquence of the way that I ask. No, he says,
Lord, remember me. Because you're good. Not because
me anything. Remember me based on your character,
based on your goodness, based on who you are. Remember me for
your sake. For your own sake, remember me.
The thief admits, I've sinned against God. I deserve death.
Christ is sinless. Christ doesn't owe me anything,
but I'm going to beg for mercy anyway, because he is good. Because
he is good. I have hope based on who he is.
My hope of mercy is based solely on the fact that he is merciful.
His mercy is in a response to me. It's not even a response
to my asking. This thief's asking is a response to Christ's mercy.
The fact that he asked showed that Christ had already given
him mercy, had already given him grace, had already given
him life. His asking is the evidence of such. Faith is the evidence
of things not seen. Christ turning to him and saying,
today thou be with me in paradise wasn't a response to the thief's
call. The thief's call was a response to the fact that Christ was already
going to see him in paradise. He's not owed, not obligated,
not earned, strictly based on Christ's good character alone.
And then he sees, so he confesses on his deathbed, this sinner
confesses on my deathbed, I've sinned against God, I deserve
death. Christ is sinless. Christ doesn't owe me anything,
but I'm going to ask anyway, based on his goodness. Not only does he have the goodness,
he has the right. He has the right to pardon because Christ
is God. He's willing to pardon, and I'm
gonna get to that word willing. He's willing to pardon because
he is good. He's able to pardon because he
is God. And the thief confesses that in verse 42, when he said,
Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom. I'm asking,
That his sacrifice be my sacrifice, that's what this thief is asking.
And the life that was given to this thief is just, there's not
a word. I wrote down amazing, but that
falls so short. The life that was given, instantly,
this thief went from being a fool to being wise. Instantly, he
was wise to ask for the Lord's favor. He was given eyes to see
and believe Christ's work. He was given a heart to beg for
mercy. He was given life. He was given
life. Recognizing who Christ is, just
recognizing who Christ is, never saved anyone. One of my first jobs, I was in
Carrollton, Kentucky working in a nursing home. And I walked
in to the administrator's office and introduced myself. And she
said, are you a Christian? I thought, well, that's odd. I just wasn't prepared for that
question. And I said, well, yeah. And she
gave me a high five. Recognizing who Christ is. I dare say you'll see a bumper
sticker or a billboard or something before you get home today. It
says Christ is Lord. Recognizing who he is has never saved anyone.
Satan recognizes that Christ is Lord. Satan recognizes that.
The legion of demons recognize that Christ is Lord. Even this
day in our text, Christ, or a pilot put above Christ, right? This
is Jesus, King of the Jews. He recognized who Christ was. He even said, I'm innocent of
the blood of this person. That's what Pilate said. But
this thief, he was given eyes to see King Jesus and a living
heart that begged for mercy. He says, Lord, remember me. When
thou comest into thy kingdom, Lord, remember me. This thief,
he was given wisdom and life to ask Christ to know him, to
love him. He was given wisdom to ask that
Christ's sacrifice be his own sacrifice. He was given wisdom
to know that Christ is able, and sinner, here, Christ is able. He's the perfect son of God.
He's the only one who's able. He's the perfect son of God,
who before time, he agreed to take the sin of his people in
his body on the tree to be made sin, to pay the death penalty
from God the Father for that sin, to make those fallen sinners
the very righteousness of God in him. He is able. He is able
in that he has the right as the Son of God. He's able in his
perfection by sinlessly fulfilling all the Old Testament pictures
and types. He's able. He's able in his willing death.
He was led as a lamb to the slaughter. He wasn't drugged to the cross.
He was led as a lamb to the slaughter. He laid down his own life. No
one took it from him. He's able as the pure sacrifice. And he willingly, he was sacrificed,
the just for the unjust, he the just for his people, the unjust,
that he might bring us to God. Turn over with me, I'd like to
look at that in 1 Peter. 1 Peter chapter three. 1 Peter 3.18 For Christ also hath
once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might
bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened
by the Spirit. The just for the unjust. He's
able. The pure sacrifice. He's able as the accepted sacrifice
raised the third day, right? But what did Christ say again
here, still in Luke 23 in verse 43? Jesus said unto him, Verily
I say unto thee, today shalt thou be with me in paradise.
Christ is able and Christ is willing. And I want to spend
a little bit of time, we're near the end, but I want to spend
a little bit of time if you'll bear with me and see this word willing.
I have tended to cringe at that word willing. because I tend
to apply it the way I apply it to myself, but that's not the
word willing in the Bible, related to Christ, related to God. Bear
with me, I pray you'll be blessed by this. Christ is able, and
based on his mercy alone, he is willing, but not willing the
way I am willing. I am willing to do lots of things.
But most of them depend on something else happened or someone else
doing something. I'm willing to go out to lunch
today. Maybe we will, maybe we won't. I really don't have any
control over that. I'm willing to drive home. Maybe we will,
maybe I won't. Willing, for me, really just
means I'm open to the idea of it. I'm passively willing, if
you will. For me, willing isn't a verb.
I'm open to the idea of it. I'd like for it to happen. I
mentioned the lottery earlier. I'm willing to win that, right?
But I have no power. I have no oomph. I have no teeth.
I have no authority. My willing is really just being
open to the idea. That's not, when we say Christ
is willing and Christ is able and Christ is willing, Christ
has the power. Christ has the right. Christ is willing. The
will, the will of Christ. I don't know how Wayne walks
off that without tripping. The will. God is not passively willing
and waiting the way I am. God the Father willed, willed,
it's a verb, he willed to elect his people. God the Son willed
to be the perfect sacrifice for his people. God the Spirit willed
to call his people and bring them, point them to Christ, give
them life, point them to Christ. Willed, willed, willed. My will
is a little bit more than a hope or an idea. God's will is a verb. He is will-ing. Will is the verb. He's actively
accomplishing his will. He is will-ing. Does that make
sense? He's will-ing. Not hoping that he is accomplishing
his will. He is actively will-ing. God's
will is a verb. Just like doing or acting, God
is will-ing. Turn over a little bit to John
chapter 6. John chapter 6, and let's start
in verse 35. And Jesus said unto them, I am
the bread of life. He that cometh to me shall never
hunger. He that believeth on me shall never thirst. But I
say unto you that ye also have seen me and believe not. All
that the Father hath given me shall come to me. And him that
cometh to me I will in no wise cast out. For I came down from
heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent
me. And this is the Father's will which hath sent me, that
of all which he hath given me I should lose nothing, but should
raise it up again at the last day. And this is the will of
him that sent me, that everyone which seeth the Son and believeth
on him may have everlasting life, and I will raise him up at that
last day." He's willing. It's a verb, it's not a response. It's a verb. He's actively accomplishing
his will. He's in the process of willing. And that's a comfort to this
center. I see myself as that. As a thief on the cross. And
I in my nature haven't changed. I see I see Christ our Savior
on the cross and he has not changed. He's actively willing. He's accomplishing
his will. For centers to come to him for
salvation. So when I see it that way, I used to maybe, to some
degree, think able and willing as, well, he's able, and then
he's sitting there wanting. And you heard me cringe to say
that. Because that's so out of, that's
so not our Father's character. Wanting, not willing that way.
But he's able and he's actively accomplishing his will to get
it done. He is actively willing. Does that make sense? I hope.
He's willing sinners to come to salvation. He willed this
thief to come to him for salvation. And the thief did, because that's
the Father's will. So come. Just as the Spirit called
that sinner on the cross and said, come to Christ. The Spirit
calls now and says, sinner, come to Christ. Finally, finally,
on his deathbed, Christ spoke of his love for his people. From
his deathbed, Christ spoke of his love for his people, and
also personally for this thief. For this thief. God elected a
people, chosen to salvation, and every one of those people
will be called, right? They'll be called by the Holy
Spirit, they'll be pointed to Christ for salvation, every one of them.
Christ paid the debt for all of the sin for all of the people. Still here in Luke 23, look in
verse 34. Then said Jesus, while he's on
the cross, his deathbed, then said Jesus, Father, forgive them.
They know not what they do. They parted his raiment and cast
lots. Now listen over here in Acts. I'll turn to it quickly.
Here in Acts 2. Jesus said, Father, forgive them,
they know not what they do. Here in Acts chapter two, therefore
let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God had made the
same Jesus whom you've crucified, both Lord and Christ. This is
Peter talking after the day of Pentecost. Now when they heard
this, they were pricked in their heart. And said unto Peter and
the rest of the apostles, men and brethren, what shall we do?
I have sinned against the Lord. Peter said unto them, repent
and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ
for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of
the Holy Ghost. For the promise is unto you and unto your children,
unto all that are far off, even as many as the Lord our God shall
call. A far off, a far off distance, a far off, and a far off time,
far off. That's this time, that's today.
were afar off in time. This promise is unto you, sinner,
and unto your children, and to all that are afar off, even as
many as the Lord our God shall call. And with many other words
did he testify and exhort, saying, save yourselves from this untoward
generation. Then they that gladly received his word were baptized,
and the same day there were added unto them about 3,000 souls."
Our Father, 3,000 souls. Christ's prayer was answered
here when he said, Father, forgive them collectively. Christ saves
his elect sheep. Never make the mistake of thinking
about that as a cold, impersonal group, this elect, random group
of people. Christ saves each personally,
and he calls them each by name. And Christ died for his people,
and he did. He died for an elect people which
no man can number. And he died for each one of them
individually also. Because what did he say here
in closing? What did he say there to that thief? Verily I say unto
thee today, thou shalt be with me in paradise. Christ saves
his elect, and he saves them individually in love. He never
fails. He's always able. He's always
actively willing, accomplishing his will, even now. And for those
of us that have no right whatsoever to call upon his name, I implore
you, call upon his name. Call upon the name of Christ.
Come to God in Christ, just exactly as you are. And those sinners
with no right whatsoever to come before a holy God, come before
him begging at the feet of Christ, the throne of mercy, the throne
of justice, which was accomplished because of Christ's work. He that cometh to me, we read
the scripture, I will in no wise, in no way, under no circumstances,
will I cast them out. Right? And I remind myself of that.
I preach that message to myself the whole way up here Thursday
night. Because I think I mentioned in Sunday school, Wayne and I
were talking last night about that, how you get a message in your
head and it's just spinning until it gets a chance to get out.
So I've been preaching that same message to this sinner's heart
the whole drive up Thursday night and all day Friday and all day
Saturday. I've been telling myself, sinner, come to Christ, never
stop. To whom cometh, right? Always, always, always coming
to Christ. Whether that's coming to Christ
for salvation, certainly, and we come to Christ in prayer.
We come to God the Father through Christ in prayer. Never in vain,
as we talked about in Sunday school this morning, that prayer
is never in vain, never rejected, never cast out, never. So I see
Christ again. I see God's holiness again. I see who God the Father is again.
I see who myself is again. And I come to God the Father
for Christ's sake and for his work again, no different than
these thieves. Amen. Let's pray together before
we close. Our most holy Heavenly Father,
I pray that you bless this time that we've had together. Use it for our good. I pray that
it was a time of worship. I pray that you do give us eyes
to see and increase our faith according to your will. Give
us a heart and give us faith that trusts in you. We pray for
Wayne and as he travels that you bless the time there, bring
him back home safely. Others that have been mentioned
that are undergoing trials, that Father, you soothe and heal and comfort according
to your will and give us faith to believe. We pray this thankfully
in Christ's name and for his sake, amen.