Turn with me, if you would, to
Luke and the 23rd chapter. Everybody awake Luke chapter 23 I Really love this passage in
this section what hope for sinners what hope for those found in
unbelief The grace of God, the sovereign
grace of God, we'll see. We'll start in verse 20, or sorry,
verse 32. We'll start in verse 32 and go
to verse 43. Of course, Christ is on the cross. In verse 32, and there were also
two other malfactors, that's criminals, led with Christ to
be put to death. And when they were come to the
place, which is called Calvary, there they crucified him and
the malefactors. So you got three folks hanging
on crosses, one on the right hand and the other criminal on
the left hand. Then said Jesus, father, forgive
them for they know not what they do. And they parted as Raymond
and cast lots. And the people stood beholding. And the rulers also with them
derided Christ saying he saved others. Let him save himself
if he be Christ, the chosen of God. See, they understood election. They understood these things.
It's not done in a corner, the scripture says. And the soldiers
also mocked Christ, coming to Christ 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 criminal 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. That one who said, just got done
speaking, said unto Christ, to 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. I can sometimes, it's hard to
read. Turn with me back to Matthew chapter 27. If for some reason the way the
text reads, we think there was some goodness in one criminal
and not in the other. Well, let's just clear that up
right here. In Matthew chapter 27, speaking
of the same incident, look with me at verse 44. Now verse 43,
he trusted in God, let him deliver him now, if he will have him
for he said, I am the son of God. So this is the same context,
same verbiage, but look at verse 44, the thieves, it's plural,
the thieves, both of them also, which were crucified with him,
cast the same in his teeth. So they were both mocking, ridiculing. So from this text in Matthew,
regarding in Luke 23, we know of a certainty that both thieves
were in unbelief and mocking Christ before the final curtain,
as they say, before they passed on. They both, they both were
casting the same in his teeth, were mocking, ridiculing. They were in unbelief. Unbelief. Unbelief, how great is its power,
how strong its influence, it would forever blind the eyes
and harden the heart against Jesus and his grace. the prophecy
that he shall divide the spoil with the strong in Isaiah 53,
and the prophet's prediction is here clearly fulfilled. The
sovereignty of grace is fully on display. Our Lord's own doctrine
is truly confirmed in these two thieves, and this would be the
title of the message. One shall be taken, the other
left. Now that's, even that right there
is just kind of scary. One taken, one left, one taken,
one remained. Pride is the companion of unbelief. These men were proud even unto
death. And we see this all the time. People die as they've lived.
They die in rebellion. If there's trust in their money,
they're going to trust their money to the end. If they're
going to trust their religion, false or it may be false, they're
going to trust in it. They're going to trust in it.
Pride is the companion of unbelief. This keeps men in stubborn inflexibility. They will not see, they will
not bow to God's sovereignty. The scripture says they will
not have this man to reign over them. This is what we are by
nature. This is what we are by nature,
completely, completely. So my first thought is unbelief
and sovereign grace. Unbelief and sovereign grace. This is a comfortable truth to
those who are self-abased. God's power is their hope, and
he also uses this hope to bring forth faith, which is a grace,
repentance, which is a grace, and holiness, which is a grace.
It's all outside of ourselves. Does he leave his people in their
sins and rebellion? No. Blessed be his name. Jesus
is exalted. Turn with me to Acts chapter
5. Acts chapter 5. He is exalted to be a prince
and a savior. Acts chapter 5 and I believe
it's verse 31. Acts chapter 5 and verse 31. Verse 29, then Peter and the
other apostles answered and said, we ought to obey God rather than
men. The God of our fathers raised up Jesus, whom you slew and hanged
on a tree, whom God, him hath God exalted with his right hand
to be a prince and a savior for to give repentance to Israel
and the forgiveness of sin. So if we understand repentance,
which is a change of mind, it's a change of heart, or forgiveness
of sins, which I can think of that John Bunyan in Pilgrim's
Progress. He's got that load on his back,
and he goes to the law, and the law says, guilty, guilty, guilty. And we realize the law cannot
lie, and the word of the law is not wrong, it's us. So he
went to a man, I think it was an evangelist, and the evangelist
said, you know, go through the wicked gate. Go to Calvary. And as he walked
up to Calvary, he didn't untie. He couldn't get loose. That burden
was his sin. That's our sin. And he walked
up and he saw the cross and he saw Christ. And he turned around
and the burden, it just rolled away. And that truly is forgiveness. If we know what we are, if we
know the stubbornness that is in these hearts to be forgiven, to be loved,
to be graced, to be given repentance and remission of sins. That's
amazing. That's truly amazing. So he makes
us happy in his love by the secret power of the spirits inward operations. The second thing I'd like to
bring up is sovereign grace. This is unbelief. This is what
we are. We were born in unbelief. Turn with me to Psalms 118. Psalms 118. And I know this is
looked at a little different way, but I think it's applicable
how we're going to use it this morning. Who made us to differ? Who made these two men hanging
on the cross to differ? These blasphemers, these both
thieves who cast the same in his teeth, these blasphemers
of Jesus, who made them to differ? Grace, sovereign, distinguishing,
almighty grace did this wonderful work. Psalms 118 verse 23 and
24. This is the Lord's doing. This
is what we say. This is our beef with free willism
and saying, I can do something to please God. This is our beef
with those who say, I chose God or I did this. No, this is the
Lord's doing. It is marvelous in our eyes.
Don't you think that's what that one thief said? It's marvelous. It's marvelous in his eyes. This
is the day which the Lord hath made, we will rejoice and be
glad in it. And I know a lot of people, and
rightly so, use this as the... the, not Sabbath, but the Lord's
day. And that's true. But this is
the day, this is day of salvation. He has a day of salvation. I'm
going to look at it that way. This is the Lord's doing what?
Salvation. Calling from the East, the West,
the North, the South, calling his people out. Every time, anytime
the gospels preach, his word's not coming back void. It's fulfilling
His purpose, even this day, even in this place, in this town.
This is the Lord's doing. It's marvelous in our eyes and
it's never unmarvelous. You know what I'm saying? We
never get over, never get over when the Lord does something
for us. And I'll tell you what to see, to get a phone call or
to see somebody come to Christ. That's good for the church. It's
good for the church. It's exciting. It's marvelous.
And you talk about it and you think about it and you think
about what God is doing and what he's done. This day is what the
day he is made. Yes, he's made every day and
all this, but we will rejoice and be glad in it this day, this
day of grace. This day when we hear the words,
today you'll be with me in paradise. How rapid is this power? How swift its attack? In one
moment, back to our text in Luke 23, in one moment, a railer against
Jesus is changed to a believer in him, a proud rebel to a humble
suppliant, a self-justifying sinner to a Christ-exalting saint. In a moment converted, pardoned,
sanctified, and made meat for the master's use. Second Timothy
chapter two. Today, hell deserving and today
in paradise. That's the wonders of his grace.
It's marvelous in our eyes. Thus, this thief believed with
his heart unto righteousness and made confession with his
mouth unto salvation. Look with me at Romans chapter
10, which I think Bruce read. Romans chapter 10 and verse 10,
or he was in this chapter this morning, Romans 10, 10, for with
the heart, man, and we're speaking about this one criminal, not
both of them, this one criminal believed unto righteousness and
with his mouth, confession is made unto salvation. He said,
don't talk like that. We're here justly. We're getting
our due, what our reward is. This is what our reward is. Confession with the mouth. Oh
brethren, let us bow to him who is God, blessed forever, supreme,
majestic, over all and in all. Why? I almost, this is another
title of maybe a text to come to preach. I don't know, sometimes
you go through these things and you think this is a message for
the people, and it's like, no, this is just for me. This is
just for me. I'm the one that needs it. Even so, Father, for it seemed
good in thy sight. What seemed good? Salvation,
predestination, providence, anything you're going through. That was
another, I love these universal believer quotes. Why are you having some trouble?
Even so, Father, it seemed good in your sight. Why am I struggling
with this particular sin? Even so, Father, it seemed good
in your sight. Why don't more people believe
what I tell them? Maybe it's me, maybe it's them.
Even so, Father, it seemed good. Isn't that one of those universal
things? And it's not, it's not a case of rah-rah-rah, you know,
it's not that, it's active. It's active, it rebukes us, it
squelches the complaining, the murmuring, I hurt, I ache, I
can't do this, I can't pay this bill, whatever it might be. And
you back up and you say, even so, Father, it seemed good. In your sight, whatever issues
you're having, whatever. And then we looked at last week,
a week before revelations, the believers answered everything.
So there's these, there's these little, I don't know, rays of
hope or things that bless me, you know, during affliction or
during up or down or whatever, even so father, for it seemed
good in my sight, what salvation and then name anything you want
to name, you want to name. The second thought, the second
main thought that I have back in our text. Lord, Jesus, Lord. There's a message right there.
He saw the Lord Jesus as Lord, as God, as Jehovah who saves. Remember me, there is a cry for
mercy. There's a cry for mercy when
thou enter into thy kingdom. He knew he was a king. He knew
he was going back to his throne. And all the other things that
he did or didn't know, I don't know. He knew whom he believed. He saw, he knew him. Lord, Jesus,
Jesus, Lord, remember me when thou comest in thy kingdom. There's
a cry for mercy and our Lord always hears the genuine cry
for mercy. Always. What does grace do? What effect does it have? That's
my second thought, my second point. Well, this is the sweetest
encouragement to any vile sinner here who's here this morning,
to look to Christ, to look to Christ. This is the strongest
assurance for the weakest believer to abide in Christ. Lord, keep
me and he will. Lord Jesus, remember me, proceeds
from grace in the heart of its people. And what's the answer? Thou shalt be with me in paradise
is the gracious answer from the sweetest God-man, the only God-man. It was the grace of our Lord
Jesus that saved this thief, this highwayman, and translated
him from the gallows on earth to a crown and glory. So whether
you have the most kindness of nature or character, or you think
the most upright person, has nothing else to look to, nor
hope for, nor trust in, but the cross of Christ alone. It's for
all kinds, all types of sinners. Religious sinners, non-religious
sinners. And talking to this Tom fellow,
and I said, well, the most harassment you're gonna get is gonna be
from the religious people. And he said, yeah, I'm finding
that out. I'm finding that out. This is all our glory is in Christ. And by the death of Jesus Christ,
we live. So what has grace done? It truly
saves. Today you will be, who's speaking? The sovereign monarch of the
universe is speaking. Today, you'll be with me in glory, in my kingdom. So it
truly saves. To the vilest sinners, there's
hope. This guy was a criminal. He was
insurrection. There was a bunch of stuff this
man was accused of. And he's hanging on the cross,
so he's guilty. We see the cry for mercy. It
doesn't have to be long. It doesn't have to be pre-written.
It doesn't need to be seen of men. Lord, remember me. And then we see the success and
the conformity. He rebuked this, he rebuked this
other man. He saw the sin in him, which
was in himself. Do you not fear God seen out
in the same condemnation and we indeed justly for we received
the due reward of our deeds that this man had done nothing amiss.
That's what we see. And then when we hear people
speak about the Lord Jesus Christ incorrectly, in ascribing part
salvation to Him and part, no, we don't cotton to that because
He's revealed Himself to us. He's revealed Himself to us.
And then we see an inheritance among the children of God. Turn
with me to Colossians chapter one. Colossians chapter one. And verse 12, Colossians 1 verse
12, giving thanks unto the Father,
which hath made us, and that's pretty strong language. That
means we didn't make it ourselves. He made us meet to be partakers
of the inheritance of the saints in light. He did it all. Jesus
paid it all, all to him I owe. Sin had left the crimson stain,
he washed it white as snow. He and he indeed. In closing,
turn with me to Proverbs chapter 12. Proverbs chapter 12. You wanna hear a good word? You
wanna hear a good word? Bruce kept talking this morning
about the gospel, the gospel. That's good news. Proverbs chapter
12 and verse 25. Heaviness in the heart of a man
maketh it stoop, but a good word makes the heart glad. A good
word. A good word. That good word to sinners. Lord,
remember me. And here's the good word. Thou
shalt be with me in paradise. Do you desire to hear such words?
Do you desire to? Do you know what you are, what
I am, what we are by birth, nature, and practice? It's only good news if you're a sinner. Only a sinner
saved by grace. Oh, to hear those words. I will be thou clean. Matt, would you close this, please?