Revelation 2. I won't be speaking to the context of this
verse, but I do want to refer to it. Revelation 2, verse 7. Let him hear what the Spirit
saith unto the churches. To him that overcometh will I
give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the
paradise of God." 2 Corinthians chapter 12 and verses 2 and verse
4. 2 Corinthians chapter 12 and
verses 2 through verse 4. Both of these scriptures are
referring to the place of paradise. Paul is speaking here of himself
and an experience that had taken place in his life, and he gives
us the account of it beginning in verse 2. I knew a man in Christ
about fourteen years ago. Whether he was in the body, I
cannot tell. or whether he was out of the
body, I cannot tell. God knows. Such and one was caught
up to the third heaven. And I knew such a man, whether
in the body or out of the body, I cannot tell. God knows. How
that he was caught up into paradise and heard unspeakable words,
which is not lawful for a man to utter. Now, if you'll turn
to my text over in Luke chapter 23, and begin in verse 39, here is
a place called Golgotha, the place of a skull, Calvary. Our Lord Jesus hung here between
two criminals, between two thieves. At first, they both railed on
Him. They both hated Him. He said,
if you be the Christ, save us and yourself. And here's the
account that Luke gives of what happened. In verse 39 of Luke
chapter 23, And one of the malefactors, one of the thieves, the criminals,
which were hanged, railed on him, saying, If thou be Christ,
save thyself and us. But the other answering rebuked
him, saying, Doest 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 I say unto thee, Today shall thou be with me in
paradise." Now, I doubt seriously if you and I can find in any
of the Gospels, the four Gospels or in all the New Testament,
another incident that provides us with a clearer view of the
grace of Christ and what it is to be saved by the Lord Jesus
Christ than we have here in this story. You have these two men
who were dying because of the crimes that they had done against
humanity. Before this day was over, both
these men would have their legs broken and they would die. We're
told that they were thieves. Now you and I might say the punishment
seems rather harsh. We don't know what all they had
done. But this one thief acknowledges here that it was a just judgment
that had been pronounced against them. He said, we're getting
just what is coming to us. He and his friend were both ready
to die before this day was over. Matthew tells us in his gospel
that both of them railed upon the Lord Jesus Christ. They not
only were criminals against the state, and suffering for their
crimes, but they were sinners against God and ready to die
in their sins." What an awful, what an awakening state, what
a solemn story this is as you and I read about it this morning. And I imagine there was a lot
of people that left this scene, that went home, and come to this
conclusion. that at least two of those men
died without any hope. Those two thieves died without
any help. They died lost and perishing.
And this brings me this morning to my first point, and this is
one aspect of salvation that you and I hear so little of today. And it's the aspect of surprise. When you read this story, are
you surprised? Here this man was, and in and
of himself, he was hopeless. And he was helpless. Just a few
hours, he was to be in the grave. And he thought for sure that
he had sealed his eternal doom. I have ruined myself because
of my sins. My iniquities are bringing me
down to the bottomless pit." He knew within his own mind that
his damnation was sure, and he says, I've got nobody to blame
but myself. I am dying lost, and justly so. That's the conclusion this man,
no doubt, had reached. And probably most people that
saw him there and knew who he was and what kind of crimes and
sins he were guilty of, reached this conclusion. This man is
hopeless. His doom is sealed. But suddenly
from the lips of the Son of God, he heard these words, Today thou
shalt be with me in paradise. Now isn't that a surprise? But
isn't that what salvation is all about? Don't you think that
he was surprised when he heard these words? He must have had
some faith within his heart He must have had some assurance
that perhaps this Lord of glory that is hanging next to me will
hear my prayer, that He will show mercy. But don't you think
when He heard these words of mercy and grace that He was surprised? Brothers and sisters, I'm surprised
when I read them. And aren't you convinced that
He was surprised when He heard these words? Those who understand the nature
of salvation. Those who understand how vital
it is. How necessary it is. How essential
it is. Those who understand what it
is to be saved and what we're saved from. And those who understand
something about who it is, whose prerogative it is to save us. I tell you, when they seek the
Lord for mercy, and they find it, and the Lord saves them,
there is this element of surprise. Aren't you surprised this morning?
Aren't you surprised that you have been saved? Aren't you surprised
when you think that in the end of your life, you shall be saved? And when you think of that, Aren't
you surprised? I just wonder this morning, brothers
and sisters, even as we grow in grace and knowledge, if we'll
ever get over the surprise of it. I think the surprise of it
will increase. I was sitting last night in my
study, and it was getting somewhat late, and I was thinking of this
very thing. And I thought to myself, there's
no use even going in and going to bed. I can't sleep. I'm so surprised. I'm more surprised
this morning that I'm saved than I was when the Lord saved me. Are you that way? Oh, the surprise
of it. We have it here in this blessed
story. I've heard people say, They talked
about things that they've experienced in their life, things that happened
to them and with them. And you've heard people say that
they experienced something or they've seen something that was
the most remarkable event in their life. Or they went somewhere
and they saw some spectacle and they say, that's the most marvelous
thing that ever happened to me in all my life. Or they met some
famous person and got to speak with them just for a minute.
And they said, oh, it's the most wonderful moment in my life.
You see some men and they say, oh, when I met my wife, I knew
right then that I was going to marry that woman and that's the
happiest moment in my life. Well, I love my dear wife, and
you can ask her, and I hope she will acknowledge that my husband
loves me. It was a happy day when I met
her, and I enjoy my wife immensely. But brothers and sisters, compared
to the Lord saving my soul, meeting her and marrying her is nothing. It's nothing. The most glorious
event in my life is when Jesus Christ saved my soul from sin. Nothing compares to it. And I'm
still surprised with it. Aren't you? Someone said salvation is nothing
less than being delivered from the lowest depths and raised
to the highest heights. That's what it is. He lifted
up the beggar from the dunghill and set him among princesses. From the depths of death to life,
He lifted me, the songwriters say. From darkness to light,
from the house of prison to freedom in Christ. From Satan's rage
to the love of God. From sin to holiness. From misery
to happiness. From certain doom to the hope
of paradise. Isn't that enough to be surprised
about? When I go to heaven, I'll be
one of the most surprised people that ever entered the gates of
that place. Now somebody may say, Pastor, I thought you had
a good hope. You're going to be surprised. I believe I've
got a good hope. I believe it's a good hope through
grace. God gave me this hope. I wouldn't barn with it. He gave
it to me. But to think of a worm like myself, to think of a wretch
like me, a vapor that's ready to pass away, a vile person,
like myself, being in paradise, having the company of God and
of Christ, and elect angels, and a redeemed humanity to fellowship
with, and not be surprised about it? Oh, I'll be surprised, and you
will too. Everybody that goes there will
be surprised. where nothing is lacking to fill
the soul with uninterrupted blessedness and comfort? To be holy? To be sinless? Not to be molested
with the thoughts and the burdens and the sense of sin? Where tears
will never dim the eyes? Oh, what a surprise. What a surprise. It's God's paradise. It's the Father's house. He's
made it. It's an eternal inheritance.
And it will be wonderful. It will be magnificent. It will
be unbelievable. And it will be a surprise. Oh, is my eternal destiny as
sure as this thief was. I would ask you this morning,
to answer this question. Has the Lord Jesus Christ Himself
given you the same assurance that He's given this man upon
this cross? He revealed to him, I have fixed
your destiny. This day you shall be with me
in paradise. Oh, if you're here this morning,
And the Lord Jesus has given you just a measure of that assurance. Aren't you surprised? Something else here we learn
from this incident is this. He gives us one of the clearest
views. That's salvation. I don't care who you are. I don't
care who has ever been saved. This incident here gives us the
clearest view of how men are saved. And how is it? By grace. Free, sovereign grace. This day you shall be with me
in paradise. Here was a man that was going
to paradise. The heaven of heavens. And he
was unbaptized. Can you believe such a thing?
They never ducked him in the water. He was a man that never
joined the church. He never darkened the doors of
the synagogue. And yet he went to paradise.
He was a man that never paid any tithes. And yet he went to
heaven. Here was a man who did no good
works at all. He didn't have time. You say,
Bruce, but if he'd had time, he'd have done these things and
more. No doubt he would have. But he didn't, did he? And yet
he went to paradise anyway. When the Lord Jesus saves a sinner,
He saves him by His grace. And I'm telling you, when He
saves a man or a woman by His grace, immediately they're ready
for heaven. They're ready for heaven. The
usual way that the Lord saves people, He saves them. He lets
them stay into this world. They profess Him in water baptism. They'll find a congregation somewhere
to identify with and fellowship with. They'll give of their time
and their talents. They'll serve the Lord. They'll
follow the Lamb wherever He goes. The Lord will put them through
trials. He'll test them. And they'll endure to the end.
But you know, that's not what saves them. It's not the Christian life that
saves us. The Christian life for the Christian
is absolutely necessary. It's essential. But it doesn't
save us. Grace saves us. Grace saves us. And grace keeps us. Works doesn't
save us. Works doesn't keep us saved.
And the Lord Jesus, to give us a clear example of the truth
of that, He saves this poor, penitent thief who had just begun
to believe, and He takes him to heaven immediately. And don't
give him a chance to do anything. That's grace, isn't it? That's grace. You know, we read
the doctrine of it. For by grace are you saved through
faith. But men argue about that, don't
they? Men say, oh, yes, but. I know we're saved by grace through
faith, not of ourselves, just the gift of God. Then they start
putting their little buts in there, don't they? Well, a man may argue doctrine. He can be wrong and still argue
doctrine. Just argue and argue and argue.
But you can't argue against fact, can you? You can't do it. Here's a man that the Lord Jesus
saved immediately and took him to heaven. That's a fact. And you may argue with a doctor,
but you can't argue with reality. This man is in heaven today,
and he's a prime example of that free and sovereign grace that's
in Jesus Christ. Thirdly, we learn from this incident
this, that this man hanging between these two thieves, this Jesus
of Nazareth, is no ordinary man. Oh, he was a man. He is a man.
But I tell you, he's no ordinary man. He's not even a great man. He's
more than that. He's a great prophet, but he's
more than that. He was a real man. Sin accepted. But I'm telling you, he was no
ordinary man. You say, Bruce, why do you say
that? Listen to this. Verily I say unto you, this day
shall you be with me in Paradise. Whoever spoke such a promise
and made good on it, You know any mere man who can
take another man to paradise, the paradise of God, and say
to those gates, lift up and let this man in? He's welcome here. It's his to enjoy for all eternity. Do you know anybody else, brothers
and sisters, that has such authority and power? There is no other man. David the great king, I would
imagine, would have taken his son Absalom to paradise if he
could have, but he couldn't. Absalom perished. Samuel the great prophet had
two sons who died lost, and I'm sure that he would have took
them to paradise if he could have, but he couldn't. Eli the
priest, He had two sons that were wicked men, and I'm sure
he'd have saved them and tucked them to paradise, but he couldn't. I was with my dear dad just a
few hours before he died in misery. And I'm telling you, if I could
have, I'd have commanded paradise to
open its doors and let my dad in. I'd take my kids there, wouldn't
you? I tell you, before I'd let my
children perish, I'd take them to paradise. I couldn't endure
watching my children be cast off into eternal ruin and misery.
But I don't have that authority, and you don't either. David didn't
have it, though he was a king. Samuel didn't have it, though
he was a prophet. Eli didn't have it, though he
was a priest. But here's a king, and here's a prophet, and here's
a priest that has that authority. And if he gives the Word, if
he makes the promise, not all the devils in hell or this world
or flesh can hinder that promise from being fulfilled. Where is
the thief this morning? He's in paradise. He's there
in that happy and holy place. How did He get there? By the
very Word of Jesus Christ. I'm telling you, brothers and
sisters, Jesus Christ is no ordinary man. He's no ordinary man. Speak the Word only. That's all
He has to do. Speak the Word only. I'm telling
you, there's been times when men came into the congregation
of some preacher, some weak, poor preacher, and the Holy Ghost
took the words, the words of God that he was speaking, and
just took that Word to that man's heart and gave him life and delivered
him from darkness. Just by speaking the Word, Christ
saves men and takes them to heaven. You know something? That's the
easy part for him. That's the easy part for him.
That's not difficult for him to do. The hard part wasn't what
he was saying. The hard part was what Christ
was doing. He was hanging here by that thief
with our sins in his body under the judgment of God, weakened
with strength enough but none to spare. Bearing shame and scoffing rude,
in my place condemned he stood. That was the hard part. That's
the difficult part. And that's what he had to do
alone. But speaking the word, this day shall you be with me
in paradise. That's the easy part. My dear
friend, the hard part's over. Did you realize that? You think
it's going to be a hard thing for the Lord to save you? No.
The hard part is over with. The hard part is done. Look at
Calvary. The easy part is for Him to speak
peace to your soul. Neither do I condemn you, go
and sin no more. Your sins, which are many, are
forgiven you. Today I must abide at your house. That's the easy part for Him.
And you turn to Him as this thief did, and you're utter brokenness
and ruin. You can see how easy and how
quickly Jesus of Nazareth can save you. He's no ordinary man. He's the Lord of glory. And all
the Lord of glory has to do is speak to those gates and say,
Open up, you gates of glory. I'm bringing somebody with me.
We're coming home. Fourthly and quickly is this. We see here in this incident, with taking this thief to glory,
this day shall thou be with me in paradise. We see the Lord
without even mentioning it, That he refutes the whole concept
of Catholicism's purgatory. You know, sometimes we don't
mention these things, and it's unpleasant sometimes to do it.
The Scripture doesn't mention a lot of error. You know how
the Scripture deals with error, giving us the truth? It just
gives us the truth. So I wouldn't have to mention
to you the silly heresy of Catholicism's purgatory. All I would have to
do is just mention this to you. But I want to expose that error,
as unpleasant as it is. I have a book. I have a book
on Catholicism. I don't like to get things second-hand.
I want to go right straight to the horse's mouth. When you go
to the book on Catholicism, sometimes you don't know which end of the
horse you're at, to be honest, if you know what I'm talking
about. This is from John Hardin's Modern
Catholic Dictionary, and you'll see why this is necessary to
expose me. Listen to what they say about
purgatory. This is the definition of purgatory. Purgatory is the place or condition
in which the souls of the just are purified after their death
and before they can enter heaven. The souls in purgatory are purified
by atoning for the temporal punishment due to their sins. and they atone
for their sins by their willingly acceptance of suffering imposed
of them by God. The sufferings in purgatory are
not the same for all, but they are proportioned to each person's
degree of sinfulness. Moreover, the sufferings can
be lessened in duration and intensity through the prayers and good
works of the faithful on earth. Nor are the pains incompatible
with great peace and joy, since the poor souls in purgatory deeply
love God and are sure that they shall reach heaven at last. Immediately
upon purification of their souls in purgatory, the soul is assumed
and taken up into heaven. Now what do we find out in this
incident? Here was a vile thief, a vile
man, who was instantly made a saint. And immediately upon his death,
without going to a halfway house, was received up into paradise. Is there a purgatory? Of course
there is no purgatory. Paul never said, brethren, I
have a desire to depart and be with Christ. But when I depart
now, I've got this awful experience of suffering for a while to purify
myself. He didn't say that, did he? I
have this desire to depart and be with Christ, which is far
better. If the blood of this suffering
Savior will not purify our soul, you don't need purgatory to try
to do it. It's not our suffering, brothers and sisters, that puts
away our sin. It's not our sufferings that
satisfies the justice of God. It's the sufferings of Jesus
of Nazareth. He by Himself purged our sin. He didn't do it with our help.
It wasn't a combination of His sufferings and our sufferings.
It was His alone. And here was a poor thief, dying
and ready to perish. And He put all His trust in this
atoning victim. And He went straight from the
cross to heaven. They may get you out of prison
and have to put you in a halfway house. to make sure you're going
to live straight. But our Lord Jesus has no halfway
house. He just doesn't. He saves and takes directly,
directly, directly to heaven. When poor Lazarus died, we're
told that the angels buried him up into heaven, and he was comforted. His sufferings ended. When a
saint suffers, it's in this world that he suffers. When he leaves
this world, his suffering is over and done with. He goes to
heaven. He goes to heaven. Fifthly is this. Here's another
error, I think, that is refuted here in this little incident.
There used to be a view that it's not so much help to now,
but maybe you've heard of it. We mention these things sometimes
because these things, I said, they just recycle. You know,
air, it just recycles. It goes around and comes around.
The air that some used to hold to is what they call soul sleep. Soul sleep. Have you ever heard
of that? That when the saint dies, the soul becomes unconscious. They're in some place, maybe
a part of heaven, some little room, but they're unconscious
of what's going on. Their souls are sleeping. And
their souls shall sleep in unconsciousness until the resurrection of the
body. And then the soul shall be awakened and reunited with
the body. They take this doctrine because
they have misunderstood Paul's writing to the Thessalonica church
where he said, those which sleep in Jesus will God bring with
Him. And they take that to be unconscious.
But when Paul said sleep, he meant rest. John says it like
this in Revelation 14, verse 13. Blessed are the dead which
die in the Lord, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their
labor. They rest. They're not unconscious. They're wrested from their labor.
When John in Revelation chapter 6 saw the souls of those who
are in heaven, he had a vision of it. Heaven opened up and he
saw the souls of those who had left this life and went to heaven.
And they were talking to the Lord Jesus Christ. And they said,
Lord, how long is it before you avenge our blood upon those that
dwell on the earth? And the Lord Jesus talked back
to them. It said that white robes were given unto them, and it
was said unto them, Rest a little longer until your fellow servants
suffer as you did. And then I'll judge you. Brothers and sisters, sometimes
when you study the book of Revelation, notice when John gets a view
of heaven and what's going on there. Just notice what they're
doing there. They're not sleeping. They're
not unconscious. They're worshiping. They're rejoicing. They're leaping. They're singing.
They know what's going on there. You remember when Moses and Elijah
came down from heaven on the Mount of Transfiguration? You
remember that? I don't think somebody had to go wake them
up and say, we've got an errand for you fellows. They were awake
already. And here is the Lord Jesus Christ,
and He's telling His thief, today, Today, you're going to be conscious
from this day forward of fellowship with Me. You're going to enjoy
Me from this day through all eternity. The one passage that
I read to you in Revelation chapter 2 and verse 7, "...to him that
overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life which is
in the midst of the paradise of God." What is that tree of
life? Why? It's Christ. It's Christ. And when a soul leaves this world
and goes to paradise, oh, it begins to eat of that tree as
it longed to eat of it here and never could. Sin hinders us here from eating
of Christ. Unbelief. A darkened understanding. But the Lord Jesus said, when
you come here to that paradise, You'll eat of this tree. The
ripe, rich, sweet fruit. Eating of Christ. Don't you enjoy
eating of Him here? He's right there in the midst
of paradise. Oh, and to sink your teeth in Him there. To eat
of His love. To know Him as He really is. To see Him. To experience His
kindness, His grace, His goodness? To have your heart enlarged to
know Him? Oh, my goodness. Sleeping? Unconscious? In a place like
that? No, I don't think so. I don't
think so. How could you sleep in the presence
of Christ? How could you be unconscious
in His presence? Oh, you can't, can you? Lastly is this. We learn this. We learn this from this incident.
This is an awakening thing, and I trust that this will awaken
some of us. The Lord was only talking to
one thief. There was two thieves, but he
was only talking to one. The promise was to just one thief,
not both of them. There was two thieves, and they
died altogether different. There are two places that men
go to when they leave this world. One thief went to heaven, the
other went to torment. There is life, and there is death. There is heaven, and there is
hell. There is eternal happiness, and
there is eternal misery. We learn that from this incident. Those who tell us that salvation
is for all men without exception, that when all is said and done,
everybody is going to be saved, That's not what this incident
teaches us, is it? Salvation is for any without
distinction. I don't care who you are. I don't
care what you've done. That doesn't shut you out from
salvation. But salvation is not for all
without exception. The Lord Jesus said there's two
roads. There's one that leads to life.
And there's one that leads to death. This one thief was on
the road that led to life. The other was on the road that
led to death. That's what we learn from this
incident. The fact is, brothers and sisters,
while heaven is being populated with the redeemed, hell is being
enlarged. Hell is being enlarged. with
the souls of those who die in their sins, Christless and faithless. Oh, if you are here this morning
and your soul is sin sick, may God give you grace to turn to
the Savior this morning and say with this penitent thief, Lord,
remember me. You are now coming to your kingdom.
You're exalted unto heaven. All authority has been given
unto you. You're full of grace. Remember
me. God bring it to pass. Let's pray.