In Acts chapter 1, verse 30, speaking of the apostles
whom he had chosen, to whom also he showed himself alive. I've entitled this message, He
Showed Himself Alive. Don't you want Him to show Himself
alive to you? You know He lives. You want Him
to show Himself alive to you. You can genuinely believe in
the bodily resurrection of Christ, that He actually rose from the
dead. I believe there are probably
millions of people, hundreds of millions of people, that really
believed in the bodily resurrection of Christ. It really took place. And I know this, I want to believe
the resurrection not simply because there is credible witnesses of
it. And there is. 1 Corinthians 15,
he was seen with 500 brethren at once. Now that's going to
pass any board of law. I mean, there's credible witnesses
that he did raised from the dead. But I don't want to believe that
simply because of historical facts and credible witnesses.
I want to believe He was raised from the dead because He showed
Himself alive to me. Oh, I pray that that's what the
Lord does for us tonight. To show Himself alive in who
lives to me. Now notice it says, to whom also
he showed himself alive after his passion. Now the word passion
means sufferings. And the Lord is called in Isaiah
chapter 53 a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. As a matter
of fact, he said in Psalm 88, and remember when you read the
Psalms, this is the Lord speaking first of all. He said, I've been
afflicted from my youth. His sorrows and afflictions that
he experienced as a man for the 30 years before entering his
public ministry. But the main suffrage you know
is the suffrage that he experienced as the sinner suffered. You know, every time I try to
talk about that, I feel way over my head. And I am way over my
head, because there's no way that anyone will ever understand
His sufferings other than Him, His Father, and God the Holy
Spirit. No one else could possibly enter
into these sufferings. He suffered. being forsaken by
His Father. His love, His eternal withness
with the Father. In the beginning was the Word,
and the Word was with God. He was eternally with God. He
said, daily I was in delight with what was brought up before
Him. On the cross, when He was forsaken,
that witness was broken. You truly understand that? And
in His passion, He experienced the completeness of damnation. The completeness of being cut
off by His Father. no longer feeling the presence
of his father, being completely abandoned by his father, suffering
the full weight of the damnations, being made sin. And this is,
once again, something there's no way we can ever understand.
We know he's impeccable and in his life he never committed sin,
but he became deeply afflicted with sin on the cross. Never
sinned. He knew no sin, yet he knew it
intimately on the Calvary's tree. He felt all the shame and humiliation
and embarrassment. Oh, the passion of the Lord Jesus
Christ when he became the sinner's substitute, when he was made
sinner. And you know, we're really not
going to understand him living, him who lives, until we see that
he died. and why he died. He showed himself alive after
his passion. Now I love the sixth statement
of the Savior from the cross, it is finished, that is so filled
with meaning. But part of it is the passion
is over. The sufferings are over. There
will be no more suffering. Of course, it means the full
salvation of all of God's elect. I love those words, but no more
suffering. And his sufferings, when we talk
about his passion, his sufferings accomplished something. They
did something. I love that verse of Scripture,
they spake of the deceased, which he should accomplish. Something
was actually accomplished by his sufferings. Romans chapter
4 verse 25 says he was delivered for our offenses and raised again
for our justification. And the moment he died in his
sufferings, complete satisfaction was made. Now, I don't know what
was going on. I wonder, I guess I'll never
understand. I don't know what was going on those three days
between the Lord's death and His resurrection. I don't know
what was going on, but I do know this. He walked out of that tomb. I love to think of it all of
a sudden, I look in his eyes. He was dead. And all of a sudden
He is raised from the dead. And He made complete satisfaction
for everybody He died for. Now it will not do us any good
to believe in the reality of the resurrection. I believe Christ
was raised from the dead and yet not having any understanding
of the reason for His resurrection. And the results of his resurrection,
what actually took place. See the resurrection is the cornerstone
of the gospel. The resurrection of the Lord
Jesus Christ. The apostles were called witnesses
of the resurrection. And if he has shown himself alive
to you, if he's shown himself alive to me, I'm a witness of
the resurrection, just like they are. Oh Lord, show yourself alive
to us this night, just like you did the apostles. Now, why was
he raised from the dead? Because he was satisfied with
what he did. Beloved, God is completely satisfied
with you. How satisfied is he with Christ?
That's how satisfied He is with me right now, all the time. What about my sin? My sin has
been put away. It's been blotted out. And the
only way that you and I are allowed to look upon our sin is forgiven
sin. Canceled sin. Blotted out sin. He was raised from the dead because
God was completely satisfied with what he did. All the claims
of God's law and justice for those he died for, pained. Now in his death, I think it's
so significant that the scripture points out that he never saw
corruption. There was no decaying of His
body. I know He was in the grave for three days, but it would
have been no different if He would have been in the grave
for three million days. There's still no decaying of
His body, because when He died, God said, I'm satisfied. There's
nothing else that's needed. Absolutely nothing. That's what
the death of Christ did. It accomplished the full and
complete salvation of God's elect, and He was raised from the dead
because The sin of every believer was put away and they were justified. Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elect? I love the boldness of that statement. Bring it on, Paul says. Bring
it on. Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elect? It's God that justified them.
Who is he that condemned them? It's Christ that died. Anybody
that's risen again who is even at the right hand of God Now
Christ died not only for the justification and complete salvation
of his people. We read in Romans chapter 14
verse 9. I love this. I want you to think
about this. Christ died and was buried and
was risen that he might be Lord both of the dead and the living.
Now, who are the dead? Unbelievers. Unbeliever? Jesus Christ is your Lord. You
may say, no, He's not. You're nothing more than a pawn
in His hand and you're going to bring glory to His name. He
is your Lord. Believer? He's your Lord. And you want His name. raised from the dead, that he
might be Lord both of the dead and the living. I love the simplicity
of that statement. He is Lord. He's everybody's
Lord. Whatever's going on, he's in control of it. Somebody says,
he's not my Lord. Yes, he is. You might not know
him, but he's your Lord. And you're doing his will, and
you're accomplishing his purposes. Everybody is going to glorify
the Lord Jesus Christ. You might glorify him in justice.
You might glorify him in grace. I don't want to try to glorify
him in grace with you. But everybody is a lord by him and he is everybody's
lord. He is lord, he is lord, he is
risen from the dead, he is lord. That's why God, he achieved this
lordship. And it's so comforting to know
that he's everybody's lord. He's the dead lord. They might
not know it, they might not like it, but he is anyway. He's the
lord of the dead and the living. Now his resurrection, in his
resurrection, after his passion and he was raised from the dead,
he put death to death. Now what do I mean by that? Well,
there are people in the Old Testament that died and God restored life
to them. Do you know what? They died again. What about the people that Christ
raised from the dead? Lazarus. He raised Lazarus from
the dead, but you know what? Lazarus died in the end. He raised the little Nain from
the dead, but she died in the end. He raised the widow's son,
the widow of Nain. He was brought to life during
his funeral while they were carrying his coffin. He got up, but he
died in the end. Now, when Christ was raised from
the dead, He'll never die for you. And he became the firstfruits
of them that slept, the scripture says. So everyone he died for,
they're never gonna die. Once they're raised up to that
life resurrection, there will be no more death. Nothing but
perfect likeness to the Lord Jesus Christ. Now I think it's
amazing, but I shouldn't say anything's amazing. The term
would be 1 Corinthians 15. As soon as I say it's amazing
for someone to believe something like this, I'll start to leave
this department in a hurry so I don't have to be careful when
I say something like that. But look what was going on here
in Corinth. Now, verse 12, 1 Corinthians
15, verse 12. They rose from the dead. How say some among
you that there's no resurrection of the dead? They have this going
on in the church this morning. They have people say there is
no resurrection of the dead. Now I don't know if they meant
that when you die, your soul goes straight to God and there's
never going to be a resurrection. Your soul is going to be with
God and that's it. Well, I don't know if they meant there's no
afterlife. But whatever they meant, Paul
confronted this error. And he did it in three ways in
this passage of scripture. First, he did so by authority. I declare it in the New Testament.
How else? Christ died for our sins according
to the scriptures. And that he was buried and that
he rose from the dead according to the scriptures. Now that first,
here's how he answered this, this is what the Bible says.
Someone says, I don't agree with that. It doesn't matter. This
is what the Bible says. And that's the divine authority of it all.
And then, secondly, he used witnesses. There are verses 5 through 9. He talked about Peter seeing
and the five hundred brethren at once, and him appearing to
James. And last of all, him appearing to me as one more at a certain
time. He was using incredible witnesses. He made himself known
to these people. There are witnesses. This would
stand up in any court of law. But it actually took place. He
used incredible witnesses. First, the divine authority.
God said it. It's in His Word. Second, the witnesses that have
experienced this. And third, He used some logic.
And I love the way He used this logic. Look at how He uses it
at forgiving in verse 13. But if there be no resurrection
of the dead, then Christ of darkness may still be raised. And if Christ
be not risen, our preaching is vain. It's a waste of time. And
if Christ is not risen, your faith is useless. It won't do
anything for you. I don't care what it is you say. Verse 15,
yea, if he's not raised from the dead, yea, we've found false
witnesses of God, because we've testified of God that He raised
up Christ. Whom He raised God up is so big that the dead rise
up. We're telling lies on God. We're saying He did raise Him,
and He wasn't raised. Verse 17, 16, if the dead rise not, then it
is not Christ raised. And if Christ be not raised,
your faith is vain, you get your sins. Your sins haven't been
forgiven, they haven't been put away. If Christ is not raised,
you're still in your sins and you're going to have to stand
before God in judgment in your sins. And then he says in verse
18, man, they also which fall or fall asleep in Christ are
perished. They're not in heaven. They perished. They perished
under the wrath of God. Christ is risen. Verse 19, if
in his life only we have hope in Christ. Poor old man looks
miserable. I mean, you think of everywhere
Paul went, he was beat. He was stoned. Nothing but a
life of continual trials. If there's no resurrection, then
what's the point of all this? We're of all men most miserable
if there's no resurrection of the dead. But, if Christ be raised
from the dead, He was, our preaching is not vain. God gives His Word, and it's
never going to return to Him for us. It's going to accomplish
whatever He intends to accomplish with it. Your faith is saved
faith. Not made in fact, but saved in
fact. We're true witnesses if he's
raised from the dead. We're telling the truth. And
if he's raised from the dead, I'm not in my sins. What a blessing
of God. I'm not in my sins. My sins are,
if he's raised from the dead, my sins have all been washed
out. The ones I haven't committed yet have all been washed out.
They're gone completely if he was raised from the dead. Yet believers are in heaven,
and beloved, we can say, all men were most happy. And it doesn't
have anything to do with our circumstances. It's because He's
Lord. And because our sins are put away. And because we're accepted
in the blood. And because we know that even
with all the difficulties that may take place, all things work
together for good. And in the blood of God, to live
with the cause according to His purpose. Now that's His resurrection. He shows Himself. alive. And notice in our text
Acts chapter 1 verse 3. Do also he show himself alive
after his passion by many infallible fruits, being seen of him forty
days. Now after he was raised from
the dead, he walked on this earth for 40 days and made these different
appearances to the disciples. I think it's interesting, 40
is some kind of special number. How many days was Moses on that
side? 40 days. How many days did he
arrive? 40 days. How many days did Elijah
travel on the strength of that one meal? 40 days. How many days
was the Lord tempted by the death of the devil? 40 days. Now he
showed himself alive for 40 days. Now has he showed himself alive
to you? I can tell you how you can know.
Do you believe the gospel? That's the only evidence that's
there. Do you believe the gospel? Right now, do you look to Christ
only as everything in your salvation? Do you believe He's all of your
salvation? Do you believe that His righteousness is the only
righteousness you have? Do you believe that His shed
blood is all that's needed to make you perfect and complete
before God? Do you believe that? Do you trust
Him only? If you do, it's because He has
shown Himself alive to you. That's why you believe. Because
He has revealed Himself to you. And during those 40 days, what
did He speak of? Look at verse 3 once again. To
whom also He showed Himself alive after His passion, after His
sufferings, by many infallible truths, being seen of Him forty
days. And what did He speak of? Speaking
of the things pertaining to the Kingdom of God. Now this is something that ought
to always be in our minds and in our thinking. The Kingdom
of God. What are we taught to pray? We're
taught to pray, Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done. The Lord opened
His public ministry. He said, The Kingdom of Heaven
is at hand. When the Pharisees asked him,
what is this kingdom you're talking about? I love his answer to it
from chapter 17. He said, the kingdom of God comes
not with observation. It's not something that people
like you can see. If you're a natural man, you
can't see the kingdom of God. I can give all kinds of explanations
for it, what it is, and it'll go right over you. You won't
understand it. The only people who can understand the kingdom
of God are people who can see it. If you're a natural man,
you can't see it. He said the kingdom of God comes
not with observation. The man can't consider there
what the kingdom of God is. It's just like that. Here it
is. No, it comes not with observation. The kingdom of God is, when he
says within you, it's literally among you. He's saying I am the
kingdom of God. Now the kingdoms of this world,
have these two things in common, all of them. Every national government
that came into this world, either 2,000 years ago or right now,
they all have these two things in common. Number one, they're
going to be cold to death. Every single one of them. And the Lord said that. You remember
when Satan And he showed him all the kingdoms of the world
in a moment of time. And he says, if you'll fall down
and worship me, I'll give you all this. It's given to me. I've got control of this. Every
kingdom of this world is under the control and the dominion
of the devil. That's an awful pessimistic attitude.
No, it's not. It's just the truth. It's just
the truth. And you can see it. Every kingdom,
United States, England, Russia, China, North Korea, South Korea,
whatever the kingdom is, it's under satanic control. It's like
every natural land. But the second thing is they're
all temporary. None of them will last. They're all temporary, and they
all shall be bullied. The Lord said to Pilate, my kingdom
is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world,
then we're not servants fighting. You couldn't do anything about
it. But my kingdom is not of this world. Pilate said, you're
a king then. He said, to this end was I born. that I, you know,
He was born to give you the Jews, wasn't He? We're looking for
Him that was born to give you the Jews. Paul described this
kingdom with these words in Romans chapter 14, verse 17. The kingdom
of God is not meat and drink. It's not dues and dovers. It's
not rules and regulations. It's righteousness. Peace. and joy in the Holy Ghost. Remember what the Lord said,
seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness. The kingdom of God is about the
righteousness of Jesus Christ and the only righteousness there
is. Can you believe that? the only
righteousness there is. The only way I can come into
God's presence is having His righteousness as my personal
righteousness before God. You know, when the Lord said,
blessed are they who are persecuted for righteousness sake, it's
not talking about blessed are they who are persecuted for doing
good things and doing good deeds. It's talking about being persecuted
for maintaining the righteousness of Christ, the only righteousness
there is. And there is no other righteousness.
Now that is the kingdom. His righteousness, as we'll think
of this scripture, the heart's desire to pray to God for Israel,
that they might be saved, but they being ignorant of God's
righteousness, going about to establish their own righteousness,
have not submitted themselves to the righteousness of God.
For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every
one of them. The kingdom of God is not an
evil dream. It's righteousness and peace. There's only one thing that gives
me peace is if His righteousness really is the only righteousness.
If you leave me looking somewhere else, I lose my peace. If I think
I know something I need to come up with, I don't have peace.
I'm scared to death because I think I won't come up with it. But
all what he's there is in knowing that the righteousness of Jesus
Christ is my personal righteousness before God that I'm in and God
is well pleased with me. Peace. You know what else comes
out of that? Joy. The joy and peace of believing. That's what the kingdom of God
is. His faith to them. The things pertaining to the
kingdom of God. Now, I tried to think, what would
he talk about? I mean, well, you get the whole
Bible to know what he's talking about when he's talking about
the things pertaining to the kingdom. But there's basically
three things that I was thinking of that I want to know about
the kingdom of God. Who's the king? Who are the subjects of that
kingdom? And how do you get into this
kingdom? I want to be part of this kingdom, don't you? I want
to be in the kingdom of God. Who's the king? Well, that's
easy to answer. The king of kings! and the Lord
of Lords. Christ is called the King of
Kings. All of the kings are His pawns, doing His will, bringing
about His purpose to pass. He's the King of Kings, and He's
the Lord of Lords. That's who the King of this kingdom
is, the Lord Jesus Christ. He was born King. They crucified
Him because He's King. That was the accusation ripped
against Him, Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews, for how
He was raised as a mighty King. And all the thieves understood
this. He said, when you come back into
your kingdom, remember me. Jesus Christ the Lord is the
king of this kingdom. And what a king He is. He's the
eternal king. Now unto the king eternal and
mortal and invisible, the only wise God. That's who the king
is. The Lord Jesus Christ. Now, not everybody's in this
kingdom. Who are the subjects of this kingdom? Do you know
Christ gives us a perfect and clear description of exactly
who's in his kingdom? And the Beatitudes. The first
Beatitude and the last Beatitude is theirs is the kingdom of heaven. So turn with me for a moment
and I have to check the Bible. This is who is in the kingdom
of heaven. Everybody in the Kingdom of Heaven
is just like this. Verse 1, And seeing the multitude,
he went up into the mountain. And when he was set, his disciples
came unto him, and he opened his mouth, and taught them, saying,
Blessed are the poor in spirit. Theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven.
Who are the poor in spirit? They who have nothing to recommend
themselves to God. That's it. They who can't come
up with anything to bring to God. They're absolutely poverty
stricken. And the Lord said, theirs is
the kingdom of heaven. Verse 4, blessed are they that
pour, Do you mourn over yourself? Your mourning is associated with
death. That's where the word is most
associated with, death. When your loved one is still
alive, there's still some hope, and you're praying that the Lord
God will do something for them. But when they die, and there's
nothing you can do to bring them back, do you mourn? When you
see that there is nothing you can do about your sin, then you
mourn over your sin. Now that's the mark of being
in the Kingdom of Heaven. Verse 5, blessed are the meek. Who is a meek person? A meek
person is someone not weak. A meek person is someone who
really believes that God controls everything. And whatever he does
is right, and whatever he brings into my life is right, just,
holy, and true. Because God did it. That's what
a meek person is. It's someone who believes everything
God does is right, and they bow before whatever he does. And then he says in verse 6,
Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness,
for they shall be filled. Why do you hunger and thirst
after righteousness? Because you feel like you don't
have any. When I'm hungry, it's because the stomach is empty
and it's wanting something. If you're hungry and thirst after
righteousness, it's because you don't believe you have any and
you want it. And this is the kingdom of God.
Blessed are they who hunger and thirst after righteousness, they
shall be healed. Verse 7, blessed are the merciful. Now, if I have experienced God's
mercy, I will be merciful. And if I
refuse, to be merciful. I know nothing of the mercy of
God. I love that passage of scripture. I think it's back in 12 where
he said to me, learn what this means. I'll have mercy and not
sacrifice. And then I learned it. Mercy. Be merciful. If you know anything
of God's mercy toward you, the greatness of his mercy toward
you, you will be merciful. And if you're not merciful, you're
not in the kingdom of heaven. This is what they all have in
common. And then he says in verse 8, blessed are the pure in heart. The faceless in God. Now, everyone
who's poor, Everyone who mourns over their sin. Everyone who
is weak before God. Everyone who hungers and thirsts
after righteousness. Everyone who is merciful is pure
in heart. This is the new heart given in
the new birth. The heart is the nature that
does not sin. It really is pure. And you know
the only people who really see themselves as nothing but sin
in and of themselves are people with pure hearts. And that's
why I can't see that. There was a time when I didn't
understand anything about sin. I do now. And I see myself. I see the sinfulness. What is
it that sees that? The pure heart? The new heart. That's what understands who God
is and who I am. I mean, who Christ is and is
righteous. That's the pure heart. Every believer possesses his
pure heart. If somebody says, well, I've
got a pure heart. It doesn't have any sin. It's a real good
pure heart. I have nothing but good motive.
You're blind. That's not a pure heart. That's
an utterly corrupt heart under the dominion of sin. The pure
heart is that which sees sin and pursues Christ. And then
it says in verse 9, blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall
be called the children of God. Now, a peacemaker is someone
who preaches the gospel of peace and believes the gospel of peace
and is a peacemaker, not trying to start fights and contention
and so on, but a peacemaker. Everyone in the kingdom of God
is a peacemaker. If I'm not a peacemaker, I'm
not in the kingdom of God. I'm in some kind of kingdom,
but it's not God's kingdom. And then he says in verse 10,
Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness' sake. I've
already commented on that. For theirs is the kingdom of
heaven. Now, there is a description of
those who are in the kingdom of heaven. Now, the Beatitudes
are not something I'm to reach for and strive for and hope to
be. This is a description of every
single child of God. All of those descriptions are
descriptive of those who truly are in the kingdom of heaven.
Now, the last question, the first question, who's the king? Well,
the king of kings, the Lord Jesus. Who's in the kingdom of heaven?
Well, the Lord tells us who's in the kingdom of heaven and
He answers. Theirs is the kingdom of heaven. They're the ones in
the kingdom. We see that. Now, third question. How do I
get into the kingdom of heaven? I want to be in this kingdom.
I do. I want to be in this kingdom. How can a man get in the kingdom
of heaven? Well, first of all, you have to be
elect. I mean, that's just the way it
is. Come, ye blessed of my Father,
inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of
the world. And the first way I can only
be convicted is by electing to the kingdom, if it's prepared
for me from the very foundation of the world. And I said this
recently, and somebody might argue against this, but he liked
that. He liked that. Somebody that argues against
this, well, you're not going to be elected. That's the way you continue.
God's elect now is true. And you understand that. I mean,
you have some understanding. The only way I can be in the
kingdom of Jesus if he puts me in the kingdom. There's nothing
I can do to initiate this. There's nothing I can do to make
myself in the kingdom. This is going to be God's will
from the beginning to the end. And we understand that. And I
love the way the Lord said in such majesty, come, you blessed
of my father, inherit, not inherit, Inherit the kingdom prepared
for you from the foundation of the world. Now to be in this
kingdom, the Lord said in Matthew chapter 5 verse 20, except your
righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees.
You shall have no place in any kingdom. Now I know this, my
righteousness infinitely exceeds the righteousness of the scribes
and pharisees. My righteousness is the righteousness
of Christ. I mean, the righteousness of
the scribes and pharisees is actually very unrighteous. It's
very evil. We see that. All we have is righteousness
that infinitely exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and pharisees. And then in John chapter 3 verse
5, the Lord has said that you'll be born again. Born from above. You cannot enter the kingdom
of heaven. You know, these entrance requirements
shut us up to Christ, don't they? I can't get myself a new nature.
He's going to have to do this for me, but except you be born
from above, except you be given this new nature, this holy nature,
pure heart, except you be born from above. That's not something
you can produce. How much? did you have to do
with your original birth, your original conception? You had
nothing to do with it. Same thing with new birth. We're
shut up to Christ. Except a man be born from above,
he cannot enter into the kingdom of heaven. In Matthew chapter
7, verse 41, the Lord said, not everyone that saith unto me,
Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven. But he
that doeth, the will of my Father, which is in heaven. Many shall
say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied
in your name? In your name have we not cast
out demons? And in your name have we not
done many wonderful works? They thought they had the works
that would get them into the kingdom, but they never did His
will. What is the will of God for you
to believe on this earth? This is the work of God. What
must we do that we might work the works of God? This is the
work of God. That you believe on him whom
he has sent. What is the evidence that you
really are a subject to this glorious kingdom? There's the
evidence. You believe the gospel. I'll give you one final example
of what this means. There was a man hanging on a
cross right beside the Lord. Let me tell you a little bit
about this man. This little man believed that
Jesus Christ was God. Don't you fear God? He wasn't
talking about Dr. Faulkner. I mean, he was, but
he was talking about this one man named on the cross, his God.
Seeing here in the same condemnation, we need justice. This man believed
he deserved to be banished. We're getting the due reward
of our deeds. But this man had done nothing
amiss. He believed in the sinlessness
of Jesus Christ. Now where are you at with this
guy? Do you believe that he's God? Do you believe that you
deserve to be damned? Do you believe that he was sinless? Well, let's go on. Lord. He called Jesus Christ Lord.
He believed him to be the Lord. Lord. Remember me when you come
into your kingdom. You're not going to stay dead.
You're God. You're going to come back as a mighty, reigning king. You're the king of kings and
the lord of lords. He knew that. And listen to his prayer. Lord,
remember me when you come into your kingdom. Now my dear friend, if you have
the same prayer, you got no other hope except Him remembering you. That's your only hope. Lord,
remember me when you come into your kingdom. The same thing
that was true of that thief is true of you today. Whatever day he takes you, that
day will be with him in paradise. Who's in that kingdom? Everybody
who says the Lord. Remember me. Lord, will you show yourself
alive to us by giving us the grace to believe your gospel
and to pray with dying faith, Lord, remember me when you come
into your kingdom. Bless this word for your glory
and for our good. In Christ's name we pray. Amen.