We're going to read in Luke chapter
23, verses 32 through 43. And look at the cross. The cross. Starting in verse 32, and there
were also two other malfactors led with him to be put to death.
And when they were come to the place, which is called Calvary,
there they crucified him and the malefactors, one on the right
hand and the other on the left. Then said Jesus, Father, forgive
them, for they know not what they do. And they parted his
raiment and cast lots. And the people stood beholding,
and the rulers also with them derided him, saying, He saved
others, let him save himself, if he be Christ, the chosen of
God. And the soldiers also mocked
Christ, coming to Christ and offering him vinegar and saying,
if thou be the king of the Jews, save thyself. And the superscription
also was written over him in the 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 him, Jesus,
Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom. And Jesus said
unto him, Verily I say unto thee, today shalt thou be with me in
paradise. What a scene this is. What a
spectacle. Well, the place, as we know,
of this spectacle is Jerusalem, the holy city. This has taken
place outside the camp or outside the walls to fulfill scripture. The scene is that of three crosses,
three criminals, three insurrectionists against society. Some soldiers,
some priests, the Jewish crowd, a gathering to witness an execution,
some weeping women, and those who were watching at a distance.
If we have ears to hear this morning and eyes to see, I pray
that the lessons to usward, there'll be many. There'll be many if
we take them to heart, if we take them to ourselves. There's
something of God in this passage. There's something of the Redeemer.
of the sinner, of sin, salvation, damnation, heaven, there's some
things of earth, of hell, there's something of sin pardoned, sin
unpardoned, a soul won, a soul lost, and of Christ received,
and of Christ rejected. Let us look at these thoughts
and let us glean a few treasures for these are wonderful things
to observe. And I know Spurt, or not Spurgeon,
but I think Pinkhead is famous, the seven sayings of Christ from
the cross. Well, I've got, there's six things
that we will look at here, but they're very forthcoming. They're very straightforward.
And if anybody has eyes to see and ears to hear, the Lord anoints
our hearing as well as my speaking. Hopefully we will glean a few
things. The first thing I think we see is man's hatred of God. Man's hatred of God. In every
nook and cranny in this text, We behold human enmity, that
is hate, towards our blessed savior. There's malice, there's
envy, there's hitting and laughing. Other places and other passages
of the scripture in Matthew and Mark, we see wagging of the head. Unbelief is in full view here,
full view. Is there a spark of love in any
of this deriding, any of this derision, any of this spitting
upon him? Any view, any spark of love? You would think that there would
be a spark of love from man. Man's hatred is what we're looking
at. No, just smiting, nailing, hollering to put him away, crucify
him. That's what we see in this passage.
That's what we hear in this passage. Why? The very thought of placing
Christ between two thieves indicates or belies the thought that he
is the chief criminal. There's a criminal, there's a
criminal, but there's the chief criminal. That's what that speaks
up to us. He's the supreme offender. Haters of God written on the
foreheads of each and every one of them there. And if truth be
told, it'd be written on our forehead. We'd be sitting right
there saying, crucify him. We'd be right there smacking
him. We'd be right there casting lots
for his garments. We would be right there because
the first lesson we see in this awful history of mankind is man's
hatred of God. But we also see, secondly, God's
love to man. God's love to man. Everything
from the sinner's point of view tries to drown and quench this
abounding love. Matter of fact, you don't have
to turn there, but songs of Solomon in verse, chapter eight and verse
seven says, many waters cannot quench love. And he was speaking
of the cross. He's speaking of the death and
burial resurrection of Christ. Why? And in Romans, which I'll
turn there, you don't have to turn there, but in Romans chapter
five, In verse 20, moreover, the law entered that offense
might abound, but where sin abounded, and it's abounding here in this
scene in the cross, grace did much more abound, that as sin
hath reign unto death, even so grace reign through righteousness
unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord. What patience we see
here from the Son of God, what forbearance What grace, what
mercy, because he says, and I still, this is the passage I was actually
gonna look at, but it's just too deep for me. I can't comprehend
it. Verse 34, then said, Jesus, while
he's hanging on the cross, while he's being mocked and laughed
and belittled by the soldiers, the priests, all these people
who are standing around, he says, Father, forgive them, for they
know not what they do. Now, several commentaries, and
it's the best that I can tell I agree with, this prayer, Christ's
prayer is always answered, always answered. And we see the answer
of this prayer on the day of Pentecost, a few days later,
when there's all the preaching, and the Lord, and commentators
that I saw, they said that a lot of the people that were at the
scene in Jerusalem were also there at Pentecost, and the Lord
saved many. I don't know whether that's how
true that is. That seems to be, to me, to be accurate. I don't
know about that. All I know is he's being spit
upon. He's being, you know, speared. The crown of thorns is planted
on his head. They're mocking him. He saved
others. If you be the Christ, if you
be the Christ, if you be the Christ. And he says, Father,
forgive them for they know not what they do. What? Love so large, so free, so overflowing. The tide of divine love over
matching and much more that of human hatred. That of human hatred. And you look around the world
today and human hatred is, it seems like it's worse and worse.
That's okay. Love will win. He's not going
to save the world. He's going to destroy this world.
But when we finally lay down this garment, this robe, this
flesh, and we put on immortality, we will see, like we've never
seen before, what happened at the cross. What happened at the
cross. Well, thirdly, I think we see
God's purpose to finish the work. God's purpose to finish the work.
He's hanging on. Nobody, they couldn't fully understand,
the disciples couldn't fully understand, those who did love
him couldn't fully understand why he had to die. They still
thought he was going to be the leader of the nation, national
state. But he, God will not leave off
this grand work because he says in Luke 24 and in verse 49, he
says, behold, I, Christ, as I send the promise of my father upon
you, tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem until you be endued
with the power from on high. That means he was successful.
He was successful. He will not, God will not allow
man's hatred or enmity to cut short the full work of redemption.
It's not possible. It's not possible. Man will try
to cause God to leave his son as he's on Calvary, but the sacrifice
shall be slain and his soul, says Isaiah, shall be satisfied.
He'll see his soul and it shall be satisfied. So the work will
not be cut short. The altar will be erected. Christ, the sacrifice, will be
placed in full view on that altar, and he will be seen to be pure,
holy, harmless, and undefiled, Hebrews. And not only that, but
in Psalm 76 says, the wrath of man shall praise him. It's hard
to believe it, but on this scene, this scene in history, this scene
as we're reading in the scripture, God ordained it, God will see
it through, and his people shall be saved. He will be successful
and his church will ultimately hear that cry from the cross,
it is finished. And everyone who names the name
of Christ, it is finished. As horrible as this scene is,
as horrible as man's inhumanity to man, God's purpose to finish
the work will be and is accomplished. Fourthly, we see the divine end
of his work, the divine end of his work. Look at the saved thief. That's proof right there. Sin
abounding, grace much more abounding. This scene, this cross, this
Christ is erected for the purpose of saving sinners. Christ's substitutionary
accomplishment is for the saving of his people from their sins,
Matthew 121. This he had to undergo. He had
a baptism where he had to be baptized and he must, he's a
straight until it'd be accomplished. It is for today. Today, Jesus
said, that man, one thief said, Lord, remember me. And he said,
today. Today, the divine end of his
work, we see it in seed. The very first person to be saved
after the cross, after he hung on the cross, was a criminal. He shall save his people from
their sins. The most vile, the most corrupt, the unworthy. There's one right there. We're right there with them.
Right there. Today is the day of salvation. Harden not your
hearts. Hebrews 3.15. Today you will
be with me. What words to hear? What words
to hear from us today? From someone here this morning?
Lord, remember me here in the heart that audible voice, but
from the heart today, you'll be with me in glory. The first
sinner after the cross was set up, as I said, was a criminal.
Hallelujah. Christ goes home with a thief
under his arms, a thief under his arms. What glory, what cleansing,
what healing, what a blessing to sinners near and far. Oh,
we are made nice, says the word, by the blood of his cross. Thank
God. Even in supposed human weakness,
Christ hanging on the cross, nailed up there in his feet,
in his hands, in his wrists, nailed, yet he still can pluck
a poor sinner and receive him unto glory. That's not weakness.
That's not weakness at all. He still can pluck the brands
from the burning, This is what is seen, this is what is observed,
this is what is noted at Golgotha. Do we believe that? Do we believe
that today? Is he a weak, effeminate, wimpy
Jesus, or is he the all-powerful sovereign who, though he was
hung on a cross by wicked hands, it's still saved to the uttermost.
Them who come to him. Them who come to him. Well, verses,
The fifth point, the fifth thought and the sixth thought, these
last two are very sober, very serious. We see fifthly, how
near a person may be to hell and yet still be saved. How near
a person may be to hell and yet be saved. That one, that one
thief, He's hanging up there, he's on
one side or the other of Christ. Guilty his whole life. How close to the very brink of
hell, yet God in Christ snatched him out. Almost as it were one
foot in the grave as we say. He was vile and corrupt. Who can doubt Christ's ability
to call, quicken and save. He was pulled, he was plucked.
and into paradise, even with the master. What free and sovereign
grace is shown here. What majestic, redeeming love
is seen and experienced here today, today with Christ. May we cry, Lord, save me ere
I perish. I'm not saying there should be,
there's, we always say in our, amongst our circles, if a person
is alive, there's hope, but don't wait. Don't wait. Don't presume
upon his grace. Don't presume upon his mercy
that you'll be a recipient of his mercy because, like Bruce
said, your parents or your friends or your neighbors. No. Today,
if you'll hear his voice, hard knocks are hard. One person made a comment, an
old writer made a comment about this man being saved. He said,
this man was saved. Deathbed confessions, people
near death is very rare, but there is one. So we don't lose
hope, but there is only one, so we don't presume. Oh, I can
choose God. There's more. It's more likely
King. Agrippa, I'll hear this matter
later, and he never did. That's more of what happens.
I'll do it when I get this, when I get my studies done. When I
get in this job, if I could just get this, it may be too late,
that may be too late, that may be your opportunity, it may be
today, it may be soon, but it may not be, it will never be
on your time frame. It's on God's time frame. So
don't put off today, or tomorrow, what you can do today. Redeem
the times why because the times are the days are evil This world
does not love God. This world is nothing for the
believer This one man said the Lord uses the goats to supply
the needs of the sheep and that's your job If you get promoted
at your job, the Lord blesses you at your job. He is using
your job to bless you Don't go run after your job Don't go pursue
other careers, especially if it takes you away from the gospel.
Follow after Christ now. This is what we have. We have
an encouraging example here, but I must close with this example.
When I read this, I wanted to leave it out, but it's in the
text. It's in the text. For us all here this today, we
see astoundingly how near a person may be to Christ and yet not
be saved. How near a person may be to Christ
and yet not be saved. The other fellow is as near to
Christ as his accomplice, yet he perished. He's just on one
side and the other's on the other side. He's just near to Christ. From the very side of Christ,
this man sinks into eternity lost. From the scene of the cross,
we see one raising up to glory and the other sinking into perdition. Such was the case with Judas.
He was near to Christ for years. He was with the other apostles.
He heard the gospel. He taught the Old Testament scriptures,
yet he had not believing faith. He had not believing faith. Is
this not fearful? Is this not fearful? Is it not
fearful for our neighbors, our parents, our children? What a
lesson for us to learn, to look at this other thief, this other
criminal, perished. What a sermon it speaks. What
a warning it has. Hearing, studying, singing, and
yet lost after all. lost after all. I close. Let us take heed. Let's each
one of us make sure it's not nearness, it's not religion,
it's not mere contact with the word, nor taking the Lord's table,
not the symbols, It's Christ. I must have Christ or I perish. Ralph Barnard, I've quoted this
before, he said, people often hide from God in the church pew. Often hide from God in the church
pew. I beseech you. I beseech myself. I encourage
you and I take this warning literally myself. Look at Christ and live. Look and live. Come to Christ. Believe on Him. and find rest. It's only by trusting and believing
on Him. And I know He gives the ability,
but you're not, if you're scared, if you're worried, and you're
fleeing to Christ, you're not worried about, you're just wanting
to get, you're wanting to get to that city of refuge. Because
you know somebody that, the manslayer's behind you, the law's behind
you, the scripture's behind you, the judge is behind you. May
we look at this passage and thank God This was all in God's plan
and all His is in control. It didn't slip up. This didn't
catch Him off guard. God predestinated for knowledge
and He did it for His people. Look to Christ and be saved. Bruce, would you close us? You will follow this, is it?