All right, good evening, everybody.
Jim's not here tonight, so you're stuck with me. So I hope I preach
well enough that you'll want to come back and listen to me
again. But before we get started, I'd like you to turn to Isaiah
43 in your Bible. We're just going to read a quick
verse here. Isaiah 43 in verse 1, But now thus saith the Lord that
created thee, O Jacob, and he that formed thee, O Israel, fear
not, for I have redeemed thee, I have called thee by thy name,
thou art mine. Let's go ahead and pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you
so much for this wonderful day that you've made. We thank you
that you've created us, you've created this day, you've created
everything that exists. And you're in sovereign control
of the universe. And you're in control of the
events of tonight. And these events are for you. They're for
you because you're marvelous and glorious and wonderful. And we thank you for the blood
of Jesus Christ, which has redeemed us from all of our sin and caused
us to be able to stand before you completely righteous without
fault in your eyes. And for that, we are eternally
thankful. We ask that you bless the message
tonight and you bless our time of worship and you'd cause our
hearts to be filled with joy, with peace and assurance and
love towards one another as well as for you. We thank you in Christ's
name, amen. The Solid Rock, page 272. My hope is built on nothing less
than Jesus' word and righteousness. I dare not trust the sweetest
praise, but only lean on Jesus' grace. On Christ the solid rock I stand,
All other ground is sinking sand. All other ground is sinking sand. When darkness veils his lovely
face, I rest on his unchanging grace. In every high and stormy
gale, my anchor holds within the veil. Christ is solid rock I stand
All other ground is sinking sand All other ground is sinking sand
His love is calm and at His blood, Support me in the whelming flood. When all around my soul gives
way, He then is all my hope and stay. On Christ's solid rock
I stand, All other ground is sinking sand. All other ground
is sinking sand. When He shall come, Oh, may I stand before the If you wouldn't mind, go ahead
and turn in your Bibles to Luke 23. And tonight we're going to take
a look at the Thief on the Cross together. And so the title of
this message is, The Thief, a Testament to Grace. Now most of you are familiar
with the many instances in the scriptures of men and women of
great faith. There were men like Noah, who
spent many decades building an ark before the rain started falling
from the sky, and it was even a possibility. And then there
was Abraham, who stood over his own son and Isaac on the altar
before God provided him a substitute. And of course, there's Moses.
We've been reading about him lately, who stood before the
most powerful man on earth, Pharaoh. and demanded that the Hebrew
people be freed from their captivity. He then stood before the Red
Sea. As it was being parted, God used
him to free his people from seemingly impossible odds. These were great
acts of faith. And I think of David, believing
that God, that he could slay that giant Philistine. And there
was Rahab, a prostitute, believing that the spies in Jericho were
men of God. And we could spend the next several
years examining all the great acts of faith in scripture, really
strong acts of faith. But there is one particular faith
that really stands out to me, and that is the faith of the
dying thief. So let's go ahead and start reading
here in verse 32 of Luke 23. Luke 23, verse 32. And there were also two other
malfactors, or criminals, led with Christ to be put to death.
And when they would come to the place where Christ was to be
crucified, which is called Calvary, there they crucified him and
the malfactors, 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 the Christ, the chosen of God.
And the soldiers also mocked him, coming to him and offering
him vinegar, and saying, thou be the king of the Jews, save
thyself. And a superscription also was written over him in
letters of Greek, Latin, and Hebrew. This is the king of the
Jews. And one of the malefactors, which
was hanging on the tree, 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, 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. And I've heard it said that this
faith of this thief is the strongest instance of faith in the scriptures,
next to Christ, of course. And I'll just give you a little
bit of trivia here on this thief. According to apocryphal writings,
their early church even had a name for this thief. They called him
Dismas or Demas. And the other thief, according
to apocryphal writings, was supposedly called Gestas in the early church.
However, the Bible doesn't really name either of these thieves,
so I prefer not to call them by any name, as their names are
really unknown, in my opinion. Whether or not there is any semblance
of truth in the apocryphal writings, it matters not to me. I don't
really care if somebody wants to call this man Dismas. For
me, however, they're simply the two thieves. And I think if scripture
wanted us to call them by a name, these thieves, those names would
have been written down here in the book of Luke for us to read
and understand. But this one thief, or some people
call him the good thief, I believe his faith was stronger than that
of anybody we read about in the scriptures. Stronger than that
of any Old or New Testament saint. So let's ask ourselves, is this
faith really greater than that of the disciples? Well, let's
think about it. The disciples, they traveled
with Christ for many miles and seen him perform many miracles.
They saw him turn water into wine, feed 5,000 people from
just a handful of loaves of bread and fish. And they saw Christ
heal the sick, including that dreaded disease, leprosy. And
they saw him give sight to the blind. They saw him calm a storm
just by saying a few words. And they even saw him raise people
from the dead. They witnessed so many miracles. And they sat
and learned at his feet for two years. They heard his sermons
and his preaching and they soaked it up. But let's ask ourselves
this, where in the world were they when Christ was dying on
the cross? And this thief was here confessing
his faith in Christ. They're hiding out. They're scared
out of their wits end. They're scared out of their minds.
Their faith was very weak. Yet this man, this thief, he
didn't get to see any of these amazing things that the disciples
saw. He didn't sit at Christ's feet and soak up his teachings.
He didn't witness a single miracle. What he did see, though, was
a very weak and emaciated man hanging on a tree. He saw a poor man that was bloodied
to a pulp. And he saw the Roman soldiers
looking up at him and laughing at him. And even another thief
who was dying on a cross was mocking him. And he saw that
all of Christ's friends had abandoned him. But yet he recognized something
that not a single person there could either see or even fathom. This man, this bloodied and suffering
man hanging on the tree, was the Lord. And this thief, he
looked over at him and he said, Lord. He said, Lord. I can just imagine the onlookers
laughing at him when he said this. Lord, remember me. Remember me when you come into
your kingdom. I have a tendency sometimes to
just, to my shame, to just read the scriptures and not let the
truth sink into my mind the way it should. It's so easy to read
just a few words and then skip to the next section. But let's
focus on this passage and think about it. Lord, remember me when
you come into your kingdom. How did this thief seem to know
Christ was going to return a reigning king, a mighty king? How did this thief know that
this man was the promised Messiah? What a testament to grace the
story is that this man, he was such a sinful man. He was a shameful
man. He had no good works in which
to boast. He hadn't been baptized. He didn't speak in tongues of
fire. He never gave a dime or a moment's worth of time to the
cause of God and his truth. He hung on the cross. and was
unable to even kneel or bow before our Lord. He didn't recite a
sinner's prayer, but he believed. He believed that Christ Jesus
was who he claimed to be. And I doubt he had a theological
education. He was a thief. He wasn't puffed
up with theological knowledge. All he had was faith alone. and
his dying master at his side. Christ gave him such a wonderful
gift of assurance. Today, you will be with me in
paradise. Do you identify with this thief? If you have true faith, then
you too have the same type of faith that this man had. It may
not be as strong, but we believe the same thing he did when it
comes to our souls and our Savior. This thief was given grace and
faith at the appropriate time. He was given the ability to see
what many people cannot. Now, some people, they've used
this illustration as a reason to put off believing until later
in life. After all, if one can be saved
just before they die, they reason they can do the same thing. As
a faith and repentance is something they can conjure up deep within
their souls when they need it. They reason to themselves that
they can just wait until they are on their deathbed and get
faith in order to escape punishment. They think salvation is just
a matter of accepting Christ, but they're sadly mistaken. You
know, you pick up a newspaper today and read obituaries and
you see stories of how so-and-so accepted Christ just a few days
before he died and therefore he's in heaven. And they use
this thief on the cross to justify their delay in believing and
somehow meriting for themselves salvation. But they forget there
was another thief dying on a cross next to that other thief on that
day. He died just as he lived, in unbelief. He died in hatred
of our Lord. And these two thieves, they're
great reminders of how how much little time there is left to
live in this world, and how close to death and to eternity that
all of us are. And they both had just a little
time to live. And we, you and I, we only have just a little
time left to live. And after that, we'll be in eternity,
conformed to the image of Christ. Or if we die in unbelief, we'll
be in hell, suffering what we richly deserve. That's quite
a sobering thought, isn't it? But these two men, these two
thieves, they represent all of humanity. In between them, you
had the man, the God-man, dying for the sins of his people. And
to the left, he had one dying in his sin. And to the right,
you had one dying unto his sin. What was the difference between
these two thieves? They were both terribly sinful, terribly
wicked people, enough so that the Romans thought they deserved
to die a horrible and painful death. They both saw Christ dying
on the cross. They both heard what he was saying.
They both heard the same message. There wasn't really any natural
differences between these two men. Yet, one of these criminals
was saved. and the other died in the sin.
So what was the difference? What was the difference maker
in these two men? Let's turn to 1 Corinthians chapter
4. Keep your place here in Luke
23 and look at 1 Corinthians chapter 4 verse 7. Here's our answer. For who maketh thee to differ
from another? And what hast thou that thou didst not receive?
That's your answer right there. God was the difference. Right
there. He sirenly made one thief to
differ over the other. And that's it. The difference
wasn't found in either of them. One was elected to salvation
from before the foundation of the world. And God through his
spirit caused this elect vessel of mercy to believe at the appointed
time. And the other man, he was hardened in his unbelief. So
if you're saved tonight, that is, if you know the Lord, and
more importantly, he knows you, well, the difference in your
life is God. God caused you to believe in
just the same way that this dying thief was made to believe. And
at some point in your life, the Holy Spirit breathed the life
into you, caused you to recognize who Christ was, and caused you
to rest in him. You were born again from above. You were regenerated
in a newness of life. And it wasn't because you were
able to conjure up some willpower that the person who dies in belief
isn't able to. No, there's nothing special about
you apart from God. You at one time were just as
unable to believe as any other person. There's nothing inherently
good about any of us. That's why we're called sinners.
You didn't do a single thing. You didn't think a single thought.
You didn't perform a single work to merit your salvation. It's
God who made the difference. Now let's take a closer look
at this difference. Let's take a look back at Luke 23 and verse
39, one of the malefactors or criminals
which were hanged there was railing on Christ saying, if thou be
the Christ, save thyself and us. This man was railing on Christ.
The new American standard translates this as hurling abuse. In other
words, he was blaspheming God. He blasphemed God right there,
right there in his presence. And if you think about it, he
said, if you are the Christ, if. He didn't believe Jesus was
the Christ. He was mocking him. Now, I have
often asked myself this many times, am I truly saved? I'm sure many of you have asked
that as well. Scripture tells us to test ourselves, to be sure
that we are of the faith. But one thing I've never doubted
since I've come to believe is this, there is no if when it
comes to Christ. And I'm confident this man Jesus
was the Son of God. He is the Christ. He is the Son
of God. But my assurance of salvation,
on some days it can seem pretty weak. An example, imagine having the
opportunity to talk to Peter on the day he denied the Lord
three times. Peter, do you think you're saved?
You might say he wasn't. But do you believe this man Jesus,
who you denied three times, is he the Son of God? Well, he'd
say, of course I do. I believe that with all my heart,
with all my soul. Belief or faith in Christ doesn't
have to do with how you feel about yourself. It has to do
with what you believe about Christ. Do you believe you're saved?
Well, forget about that for a moment. Don't think about yourself. Do
you believe Jesus is the Christ? Do you believe he's the eternal
high priest? Do you believe he fulfilled all the prophecies
of scripture concerning the Messiah? Do you believe he's the king
who sat down at the right hand of the father? Of course you
do. Because that's what faith is.
This first thief, he didn't believe that. He had no faith. He said,
if you are the Son of God. He called Christ's claim into
question. Now look at the good thief, if we're going to call
him that. Take a look at this man. Look what he said. Actually,
no. Take that back. Let's look at
the bad thief. Save thyself and us is what he
says. He says, He says, you should save me.
He had a sense of entitlement. He basically said, if you're
the Christ, then you have an obligation to save me. That's what's fair. It wouldn't be fair for you not
to save me. He was entitled. Now we're going to look at the
good thief, as they call him. The other answering rebuked him,
saying, dost thou not fear God, seeing you're in the same condemnation? You know, where there's true
faith, there's no sense of entitlement. And whenever I hear people questioning
the fairness of God, I think of how entitled they are. Is
it fair for God to save one and condemn another? Is God's sovereign
election fair? Is it fair that Christ didn't
die for every single human being? That's not fair, they cry out.
That's not fair. Well, that's entitlement. They're
saying that it would be wrong for God to die only for his elect. They're saying it would be wrong
for God to have a chosen people from before the foundation of
the world. And this attitude, it's quite symptomatic of the
times we're in. It's quite symptomatic of this
country, if you ask me. Citizens of this country are
entitled. But that's really to be expected.
It's in our nature to feel entitled. But the true believer doesn't
dare think these things when it comes to salvation. Ask yourself this, if God were
to send you to hell, and he hadn't sent his son to die for you in
your sins, would you be angry about it? Knowing what you know
about yourself? No. It's because if you believe
the Lord and rest in his gospel of grace, you do not have a sense
of entitlement concerning salvation. You're just thankful he saved
you So if you see somebody claiming that sovereign election and sovereign
grace isn't fair, rebuke them the same way that this thief
rebuked the other thief. We have a model right here on
how to handle that attitude, right here in scripture. This
dying man said, don't you fear God? What another amazing thing
this man just said, don't you fear God? He was talking about
the one hanging on the cross. He was talking about Christ.
He called him God. He believed Jesus Christ, that bloodied and
beaten man, was God Almighty. He saw this bloody, dying body
nailed to a tree, and he knew this was God. That's not something
a natural man could even conceive. The realization of Christ being
God could only come from above. Just like Christ said to Peter,
Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood hath not
revealed it to thee, but my Father which is in heaven. This man
knew that Jesus was the Christ the same way that you and I do.
We didn't conjure it up in ourselves. This blessed truth was revealed
to us. And when anyone experiences salvation, they know that Jesus
Christ is the sovereign God. They know that he is sovereignly
in control of everything. He's in control of everybody
and every single event that ever takes place. Don't you fear God. Wow. To me, that statement is
breathtaking. The next thing I noticed about
these thief's words is that he believed in the absolute justice
of God. Let's read the first part of verse four. Let's read
the first part of verse 41. And we indeed justly, for we
receive the due reward of our deeds. Whatever God does is right, don't
you think? Whatever God does is just, right? And anyone who
is true, saving faith They're never satisfied with anything
that doesn't line up with the absolute and supreme justice
of our Lord. Would you be satisfied with a
court that just let all the criminals go free? Would you be okay with
murderers and thieves being released in society without any justice
ever taking place? I don't think I could. I couldn't
handle that. We'd all try to get the judges
who made these awful decisions thrown out of office. That's
the way it is in this country. If you have true faith, though,
you have a sense of the absolute justice of God. Remember the
publican of the temple who said, God, be merciful to me, a sinner? And Christ said, I say unto you,
this man went back to his house justified. He had no more guilt. Christ took it. Christ took our
guilt. He had no condemnation. Christ
took our condemnation. That's the wonderful message
of the gospel. It's good news. And the only message that magnifies
the justice of God is the gospel. God is just. And he's going to
reward the perfect. He's going to punish the guilty.
And in and of ourselves, we are guilty and deserve to be punished. But Christ not only took our
punishment, he took upon himself all our guilt and our shame.
He said our sins were his. He took them upon himself. He
paid a king's ransom for criminals like us. But if Christ hadn't paid that
ransom, we'd get exactly what we deserve, don't you think? Every believer knows deep within
their souls that they're sinners. They believe they deserve the
wrath of God in and of themselves. I've heard people say they wish
they could go back in time and slap Adam, causing them to be
sinners. Do you believe that? That's a
ridiculous thing to say. Don't they realize they have
enough sin of their own to be sinners? They don't need Adam's
sin. And what makes them think they
do anything different in the garden than Adam and Eve? People
are so self-righteous. You know when they make statements
like that? Boggles my mind. But this man,
this thief, he said to the other thief, hey, don't you fear God? We're getting exactly what we
deserve. He believed he was a sinner deserving nothing but condemnation.
He had no sense of entitlement. This other thief, though, was
entitled. He was basically saying, save us. Save us. Save yourself,
but save us. Save us while you're saving yourself.
But this believing thief, he couldn't say that. He believed
he was a sinner before God. And he believed Jesus was sinless.
Christ didn't do anything wrong. Do you believe that? Do you believe
Christ was without sin of his own? That he was the only perfectly
sinless man to ever live? That he was absolutely holy and
perfect in everything he said or did without spot? A dying
criminal on the cross believed this. Look at the second part
of verse 41. This man hath done nothing amiss.
That's what he said. I don't think he's just talking
about civil crimes either. I think he thought Christ was
sinless. That's the context here. He believed
Christ was God. That's the only thing that makes
any sense to my mind. It's absolutely amazing. Remember,
he never saw a single miracle performed by Christ. All he saw
was a man nailed to a tree who was seemingly helpless. And he
looked to him and he said, Lord. The seemingly helpless man hanging
on the tree was the Lord of creation. He was the Lord of providence.
He is sovereign over all things. He's before all things and by
all things consist. He's even sovereign over salvation.
And this belief, this thief, he believed that. And you can
see that in his words. Lord, remember me. All you need to do, Lord, is
remember me and I'll be saved. That prayer is strikingly similar
to that prayer of the leper to Christ. Remember what the leper
said? He said, Lord, if thou will,
thou can make me clean. He believed everything he needed
to believe, didn't he? But if you talk to some theologians
today, you'd think it wasn't enough. The thief probably couldn't articulate
to you the doctrines of TULIP. He probably couldn't elaborate
to you on the differences between Calvinism and Arminianism. He
probably couldn't tell you what universal atonement versus limited
atonement meant. And he probably couldn't read
through a Spurgeon sermon and start critiquing it. He probably
couldn't tell you what all these big theological words that we
use today mean. But I think he believed Christ's
work would be successful. He thought it would be effectual.
He believed that Christ would come back as a mighty reigning
king. And he believed that though Jesus would die, that he'd be
raised from the dead. He believed that Christ was King
of Kings and Lord of Lords, and that his salvation was in the
hands of the sovereign will of Christ. Lord, remember me. Remember me when you come into
your kingdom. He wasn't baptized. He never
gave anything. He only stole stuff. He had no
works to commend himself. He was nothing but a terrible
thief, being executed for living a wicked life. When I first believed the gospel
of sovereign grace, it was back in the early part of the internet
era, back when it was first getting started. I used to get online
and read about the gospel and I'd find these internet forums
and people would be sitting there debating each other. So I've
seen a lot of debates online, seen a lot of debates on social
media. I've even participated in them, to my shame. I've seen
people argue over every single theological point one could even
possibly make. And I've seen people roast each
other online for not being able to articulate theological concepts. I've seen people judge each other
like Pharisees for not being able to articulate Calvinism
or Tulip properly. And I've even, like I said, I've
even participated in many of these discussions. And I could
hold my own with the best of them. I love to study theology,
and I've read a lot of systematic theology books. I'm not trying
to brag here. I'm actually ashamed to say a
lot of this, and I can tell you all the big theological words.
I can tell you the difference between all the different end
times views that exist out there, and all the different nuances
that theologians like to make. However, so many of these people
that like to debate theology, I think oftentimes they miss
the point of the gospel. They can articulate the gospel,
but do they believe it, like this thief? Do they look to Christ,
and do they rest in him? All these theological concepts
they like to talk about, well, they don't mean a thing if they
don't reinforce the type of faith we see here with this thief.
And I think sometimes people lose sight of Christ in their
theology, they lose sight of Jesus. They can argue and they
can debate very well, and they think they're always right, and
they defend their doctrine mightily, but I think that many people
are too focused on winning a theological game and have forgotten the one
who gives rest. They forget that sovereign grace
theology terminates in Christ alone. That's all you need to
know, Christ. And I had a friend once who could debate very well
and he could defend the gospel very well. In fact, he could
articulate almost better than most people I know. But one day
he just stopped talking to me. And so I finally tracked him
down, and I asked him, hey, what's going on, man? He told me something
that shocked me. He says, I don't believe any
of it. That's what he told me. He told
me he didn't even believe in God. And he said that to me, and I'll
never forget it. He said, Brandon, your understanding of the scriptures
is the most accurate I've found. If I believe the Bible, I believe
exactly what you believe. But I don't believe any of it.
I don't even believe there is a God who even exists. And this
man, he could tell you everything you needed to know about sovereign
grace. Sovereign grace doctrine from an academic perspective.
But he didn't believe it. And then you have this thief
who probably couldn't tell you much about the theology of the
Bible. He probably couldn't tell you about the extent of the atonement,
but I think he believed it would be satisfactory. He probably
couldn't tell you in strong theological terms about Christ, but he believed
him. That's why I hang right there
on the tree. He believed what he had to say.
He knew he had nothing to contribute to his salvation. He wasn't looking
to his decision. What decision? He wasn't looking
to any good works. He didn't have any works to look
at. He was only looking to Christ. He was depending on the blood
that was about to be shed on his behalf. He was looking only to the Savior,
depending on God's grace and mercy. That's all he had. And that's all we really have
as well. And it's enough. It's enough. And Christ gave this thief the
strongest assurance any person could ever receive. He gave him
assurance right there to his face, right there on the cross.
And he did this verbally. Look at verse 43. Verily, I say
unto thee, today, today shalt thou be with me in paradise.
What words of comfort. Can you imagine the joy of this
dying man upon hearing these words? If you believe, these words should
come for you as well. These words should give you joy as well.
Christ gives all of his people assurance. He speaks to them,
and he whispers in their ear, fear not, for I have redeemed
thee. I have called thee by thy name, and thou art mine. And he did this with the thief
on the cross. And he does that with those of us who believe.
We know the Lord, and he knows us. And we talk to him and he
talks to us. And we know that we'll never
be plucked out of his hand. We know that when we die, the
same thing that happened to that thief will happen to us. Today,
thou shalt be with me in paradise. The moment we who rest in Christ,
when we die, we go to be with Christ in paradise. Why should
we be any different from that thief? Death isn't something
to be feared. The Lord conquered the grave
for us. And when we pass, we pass right into his loving arms
in paradise. We will walk and talk with a
resurrected Christ and living Christ, just like this thief.
So what's paradise? I don't know. Sorry, I don't
know exactly what it is or what it'll look like. And I've seen
people arguing about this as well, but I don't need to know. All I need to know is, am I going
to be safe with Christ or not? I'm content with that. I'm satisfied
knowing that I'm going to be saved forever and ever and ever.
And all the questions I've ever had about heaven from the time
I was a little boy till now, I don't really need to know the
answers. I used to wonder what my body would look like when
I get to heaven, or if I'd be able to walk through walls like
Christ. Would my dead pets be with me in heaven? Those were
the type of questions I used to have as a little kid. And
who am I going to get to see in heaven when I get there? Will
I be able to talk to any of the apostles? Will I be able to go
fishing again? All these questions I once had
completely missed the point. And that point is, when I die,
I will be with Christ in paradise. And that's all I need to know.
I'm content. I'm content with that. And there's one more thing about
this thief that gives me great comfort. And it's the fact that
this man is a thief. He's seen as the worst kind of
sinner around. He deserved to die. He lived a vile life. Natural men would even agree
with us on that. He committed some of the worst
crimes against his fellow human beings that one can possibly
conceive. He was a criminal. And when the
word sinner comes up, many people automatically think of people
like this thief. And many times when they do this, they don't
recognize they're as bad as he is, or even worse. They're like
the other thief, puffed up with self-righteousness. But nevertheless,
our Lord still loved this dying man. He loved him so much that
he gave his life for him. And then I think about myself. And I know my sins. And I know
the horrible things I've done and the most awful, vile things
I've ever thought. And I'm sure you all can relate.
You've all had horrible, sinful experiences. We all deserve death. And then I remember this thief,
and there is no sin that we can commit that can keep us from
the love of Christ. There is nothing we can do that
will cause our Lord to stop loving us. And that thief, while he
may have lived a terrible life of crime, he was still loved
by Christ his entire life, even before he believed, even before
he was born. He was still cared for by Christ
in spite of his sins. In Christ, he saw fit to give
him assurance of forgiveness and eternal life, expecting nothing
in return. That's amazing grace. And it's
mind-boggling when you think about it, but it's true. How
bewildering, but so wonderful. What a wonderful series of events
that's recorded here in Scripture for rotten sinners like us. And
if you're listening tonight knowing that you yourself are guilty
of some of the most heinous thoughts and actions, know this. There is forgiveness in Christ.
There is a place of refuge. There is amazing grace for even
the chief of sinners. There is amazing grace to be
found in the Savior. And if you're one of his people,
you're going to be made to look to that Savior and rest in his
righteousness. rest in his finished work. Sin
has been forever settled and answered by Christ's blood. And
knowing this gives me such great peace, gives me enjoyment of
that peace. I'm free to worship the Lord
without a guilty conscience. I no longer feel guilty or burdened
for all the crimes against the Lord I've committed or will commit.
He's taken all of my debt, all of it, even my life of unbelief,
and he's paid for it all. He nailed it to the cross, and
he did away with it forever. He'll never be brought up again.
Not once. And to me, that just gives me
such freedom that I can just stand up here and brag on my
Savior. Gives me such joy and such peace. This thief, what a wonderful
testament to grace he was. Well, That's about the end of
the sermon, but I've been on a big poetry kick lately if you've
been watching my Facebook posts. So I had to write a poem about
this. So I'm going to read it to you. I wrote this a few weeks
ago. I sent it to my mom and dad.
They're listening tonight. And I changed a few of the words
around mom and dad so you get to hear it again. So I hope this
message and this poem will give you some comfort. And the title of the poem is
the same as this message, The Thief, a Testament to Grace.
A thief, a man of sin and shame, on the cross he bore the blame. No church clothes, no pious guise,
no works to merit paradise. No baptism, no tongues of fire,
no mission trips to spread the choir. No offerings of wealth
or time, no confirmation, yet he still climbed. The cross he
hung, unable to kneel. No sinner's prayer, no holy appeal. But one belief the thief held
true, that Christ was who he claimed to be, no other view. No theologian's words or spin,
no shining lights, no ego within. No miracle seen or pictures drawn,
just faith alone, his heart shining strong. For God so loved, he
gave his son. And through belief, salvation's
won. No matter what we've done or lack, in Christ alone, we
find our track. The thief, a testament to grace,
a glimpse of God's unending chase. A reminder of his love profound,
that through faith alone, we're heaven bound. Amen. Closing hymn this evening is
255 Blessed Assurance. 255 and stand as we sing please. Oh, what a foretaste of glory
divine, air of salvation, virtues of God, born in His Spirit, washed
in His blood. This is my story, this is my
song, Praising my Savior all the day long. This is my story, this is my
song, Praising my Savior all the day long. Perfect submission,
perfect delight. Visions of rapture now burst
on my sight. Angels descending, great from
above. Echoes of mercy, whispers of
love. This is my story. This is my song. Praising my Savior all the day
long. This is my story. This is my song. Praising my Savior all the day
long. Perfect submission, always at
rest I am my Savior, and happy and blessed Watching and waiting,
looking above Filled with His goodness, lost in His love This
is my story. This is my song. Praising my Savior all the day
long. This is my story. This is my song. Praising my Savior all the day
long. you you