Change batteries. Asking me questions
I don't remember seeing before, but we're good. Luke chapter
23. We're going to start reading
in verse 38. And we'll know the context as
soon as I read this one verse, but we're going to go through
verse 43. Luke chapter 23. And it says in verse 38, "...and
the subscription which was written over him on the cross in letters
of Greek, Latin, and Hebrew." Obviously, it's the crucifixion
of our Lord. This is the King of the Jews. Now over in Matthew's Gospel,
we have one verse that says both thieves, they're hanging on either
side of Christ, they both cast the same in His teeth. They were
both reviling Him. We have the story of one criminal,
one malfactor. One of the malfactors which were
hanged, railed on him, saying, If thou be the Christ, save thyself.
But the other criminal, Malfactor, answering, rebuked him, saying,
Dost thou now 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 looked at the Lord and
said, Lord, remember me when you comest into thy kingdom.
And Jesus said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Today,
today shalt thou be with me in paradise. Now there is no question
that this one thief was redeemed. It's not me. It's not me interpreting. It's just Christ said, you will
be with me today in paradise. That's what the Scripture says.
The Scriptures are without error. So I'm going to leave it there.
But what we have here is a scene. There's three men. They're left
to die a hostile and painful death. They're hanging on crucifixion. Two of them were criminals, justly
sentenced to die. The other one, our Lord, was
harmless, as we say, as a newborn child. But, He is even of pure eyes
to behold evil, but He's hanging on the tree. Charged, innocent,
yet by man guilty. He's a scapegoat. As our eternal
substitute, He surely must suffer, bleed, and die. That's why He's
on the cross. He wasn't up there for Himself.
He was up there for us, if we know Him. Now, I want to draw
our attention to this one dying thief. This one by whom, if we
as well, by God's grace, if we duplicate his convictions, his
repentance, His confessions, we surely will find His acceptance
if we look at this one man, this one criminal. He was saved by the grace of
God through the Lord Jesus Christ. Turn with me to 1 Timothy 1.
I believe the story of this one thief could also be stated, Paul stated
it this way in 1 Timothy 1 verse 16, Howbeit for this cause I,
Paul, obtained mercy, that in me first Jesus Christ might show
forth all longsuffering for a pattern, for a pattern to them which should
hereafter believe on Him to life eternal. I believe this thief,
is a pattern. A lot of people say they repent,
but they need to be repented of. But this man's repentance,
his convictions, his confessions, we know from the scriptures that
God received them. So this man hanging on the cross,
one, there's two, there's three, but one, It could be a pattern. To them
which should hereafter believe. Christ came to save, as he says
back in the verse before this in 1 Peter, this is a faithful
saying and worthy of all acceptation that Christ Jesus came into the
world to save sinners of whom I am chief. I believe the thief
on the cross should say the same thing. Of whom I am chief. As this one
thief, This awful man, this wicked sinner, there is hope for him,
there is hope for you and I in the blood and righteousness of
the Son of God. We're going to look at six notable
things in this one thief that should give us hope. Six things
in this, go back to Luke, in this one thief that should give
us hope. And one of the malefactors, which
were hanged on the tree, railed him, saying, If thou be the Christ,
save thyself. But the other..." Now we know
it's in Matthew. Back there in the back, Nathan
shared out of Matthew, well, the verse before that said both
malefactors railed on Christ. So they're both. But something
happens. Something happens. The other
answering, rebuked him saying, do you not fear God? Seeing thou
art in the same condemnation. The first thing that we see here
is an awareness, a heightened awareness that showed his concern
about the reviling of Christ. Now Paul said he was a pattern. I should have kept my finger
there. But in verse 13, Paul says, I,
verse 12, I thank Christ Jesus, our Lord. And in verse 13, I,
who was before a blasphemer, a persecutor, injurious. There's a heightened awareness.
Paul didn't, he was just persecuting the church. He was just going
about his business. But he says about himself, he
was a blasphemer, a persecutor. As the Spirit begins His good
work upon the conscience, I thought about my own experience,
we begin to pull back. A conversation with friends,
and the Lord was working, and some of the things they were
saying never bothered me before. It started to bother me. There's something terribly wrong
about what's going on, to say it in my own terms, as it relates
to Christ and His work. There's something terribly wrong
about what's going on. I began to see that my friends weren't really my friends. Now, I have friends that are
outside the Gospel, but I will say this, they're getting fewer
and fewer. Because if you bring up the Gospel,
there's always confrontation. I just want to talk about the
weather, sports, taxes, economy. We'll talk about anything, but
we don't want to talk about that. Turn with me to 1 Peter chapter
4. This is what I'm talking about. And if you're a believer, if
you're not a believer, but the Lord is starting to wonder, maybe
that preacher, that old, skinny, bald-headed, bearded preacher
up there, maybe he knows what he's talking about. 1 Peter chapter
4, look at verse 3 and 4. For the time past of our life
may suffice us, to have wrought the will of the Gentiles when
we walked in lasciviousness, lusts, excess of wine, revelings,
banquetings, and abominable idolatries." You begin to feel like something's
wrong? Look at the next verse. Wherein they think, who? Your
friends, your acquaintances. They think it's strange that
you do not run with them to the same excess of riot and they'll
start speaking. Now that they find out who your
friends are, they'll start speaking evil of you. That's okay, they
spoke evil of Christ. Let them talk. Look to Christ. We all want friends. That's part of our problem. Humanly, we're gregarious people. We're sheep, and sheep are congregate. That's our problem. The problem
is, is that We work with more people than we come to church
with. Age differences, all these different
things. But you here are my family, and I'm your family. I'm here
for you, whatever you... beyond reason. But that's the first thing. This man's awareness was heightened
when he showed concern about what was said about Christ. It's
about Christ. It's about Christ. Secondly,
the second thing we see in verse 41 is, "...but we indeed justly,
for we receive the due reward of our deeds." There's a full
acknowledgement of his own sin. It's the same thing that Paul
said back in Timothy. He said, I'm the sinner. I'm the chief of sinners, of
whom I am chief." This man, he sounds like that one that beat
on his chest, the publican, as he beat on his chest. Or Paul, I, who, who, who, am
the chief of sinner, who, me, myself, I. He didn't point the
finger and say, you all are the chief of sinners, though he could
have, that would have been right, but I'm the chief sinner. That's the second thing he said.
The third thing he said, now he makes an open confession of
the innocence of Christ. He sees himself for what he is,
and he makes an open confession. But verse 41, but this man hath
done nothing. Who told him that? How did he
know that? With God, nothing is impossible.
We're limited in our scope and vision, but not with God. This
man did nothing amiss. He now makes an open confession
of the innocence of Christ. Paul says in verse 16 in 1 Timothy,
I obtain mercy. I obtain mercy. How can you obtain
mercy? The innocent can only cover the
guilty. He saw Christ as innocent as
well. The fourth thing, Verse 42, faith. Repentance, conviction, you've
got to have faith. Verse 42, And he said unto Jesus, Lord,
remember me when Thou comest in Thy kingdom. He turns to a
fellow crucified sufferer and calls him Lord and declares his
belief, the sinner, that he has a kingdom. How? Why? How is He going to save anybody? Well, when faith, it doesn't
look at the situation with our eyes, it looks by faith and He
sees that this man has a kingdom. Remember me when Thou comest
in Thy kingdom. He saw Him as King. He saw Him
as Lord. Well, we saw this this morning. I've got this soul marked up
in my study Bible, I've got a soul marked up in this Bible. Abraham, who against hope, believed
in hope, this guy's dying. He's minutes away from taking
his last breath. He looks upon another person who's dying, minutes
away from his last breath, and said, Lord, remember me when
you come into your kingdom. Abraham, not being weak in faith,
considered not now that his body was dead, and the deadness of
Sarah's womb. There's two dead. He's dead,
she's dead. Now if you're looking at it,
it's impossible. Not with God. Staggered not at
the promise of God through unbelief, but was strong in faith, giving
glory to God. This is a pattern. and being
fully persuaded that what God had promised, He was able to
perform. That's saying something right
there. That's saying something right
there. And then fifthly, He has a prayer. His prayer. Remember me. Two words. Remember me. People think they're going to
be heard through their Scripture says they're much speaking. Talk,
talk, talk. Speak, speak, speak. They talk
to God as He's a familiar. Think upon my poor guilty soul,
is what he's saying, I know I'm at fault, I'm blameworthy, but
I trust you and only you with no merit or works of my own for
you to reconcile me unto God. That's the fifth thing he did.
The sixth thing He did? The last thing He did upon this
earth was beg to be remembered by our Lord. Jesus says, My Lord,
remember Me based upon Your good and gracious covenant. Lord,
remember Me. Begging. Begging. Here He is. This thief, this
one, unable to do anything, he's nailed hand and foot upon the
tree, so he absolutely could do nothing. Salvation is all
of grace, and none of our puny, worthless works. You've got this
guy right here who's a pattern. Now, if the Lord does something
for you, and you're not hanging on a cross, and you're not in
a hospital bed, and you're not in the last hours, confess the
Lord in baptism and let us walk together in new life. But this
man, this is such a beautiful picture. The utter solitariness,
the utter fact that salvation is all in God's hands. He could
do nothing. He could do nothing. And you've
got election. You've got predestination. You've
got divine discrimination. Why not both of them? John 3,
16. Why not both of them? One. One. One. Yet, He is saved, He is
called, He is redeemed. by love divine. Verse 43, And
Jesus said to him, Verily I say unto you, Today shalt thou be
with me in paradise. Today. That is in the Hebrew,
Greek, this day. This day. You can talk about Purgatory. You can talk about
waiting. You can talk about suspense.
You can talk about stalling. There's none of that. Today,
you're with me. Completely, absolutely, positively,
his sins will be remembered no more. He's hanging on the cross
because he's a criminal. He's vile. He's contemptible.
He's a menace to society. In this society, the next society,
he's not going to be brought up. Sins are cast behind God's
back by the person and the work of Christ. Today, today, this
day, in the twinkling of an eye. So we look at this history, this
text, with hope, genuine hope. Christ came to seek and to save,
to reclaim the worst of sinners, all sorts of sinners. Today, shalt thou be with me
in paradise. I looked that up, paradise, it
simply means Eden before the fall. Future happiness. I really, no
words that I can think of can accurately describe this kingdom.
I just know it's paradise. It's paradise. Peaceful? Yes. Restful? Yes. Glorious? Yes. Wondrous? Yes. All the things
we seek for now, but they're so hard, they're so fleeting. But if we could have the faith
like Abraham, like this, just to look over. Oh, this is a deathbed
confession. Whatever, if you want to say
that, if you want to think that, I'll take it. I'll take it. And what makes paradise paradise? Christ will be with us forever
and ever and ever. Today, you'll be with me. I can't even think of what to
say. With Christ. But we're with Christ now. And
all things are for us. And I know we struggle. Because
a believer, you're supposed to struggle. This is the world.
The world hates God. It hates our Master. But take
refuge like this thief, this vagabond. Take refuge like him. Own up to your sinnerhood. See
Him as God, can do anything, confess. Actually, the title
of this message was, Conviction, Repentance, Confession, and Acceptance. To be accepted in the Beloved.
Does that mean everything is going to go away and everything
is going to be fine? I don't know who you're talking
to. I don't know what book you're reading. It's a struggle. It's a struggle. Let's struggle
together. Let's look to Christ. Let's don't
delay. Let's cry unto Him and come unto
Him today while it is called today. May the Lord honor and
bless His Word. Nathan, would you close us please?