to the 23rd chapter of the Book
of Luke. Tonight, after the services, we're going to recognize our
one graduating senior, Rebecca Vincent. And we'll get together
after the service. And if some of you men, after
the service, can put up the tables, that would be helpful. I've entitled this message The
faith of the dying thief. The faith of the dying thief. And we have so many instances
of great faith in the Bible. I thought of Noah. who spent
120 years building the ark before a drop of rain fell. He believed
God. I think of Abraham offering up
his own son on the altar in obedience to God's command, believing that
God would actually raise him from the dead in him doing that. I think of Moses standing before
Pharaoh and saying, thus saith the Lord, let my people go. He stood before this powerful
man. Pharaoh said, who is the Lord
that I should obey him? I would love to have known what
Moses was thinking at that time. You're fixing to find out. David. running at Goliath. You come with a sword and a spear,
but I come in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the
armies of Israel, whom you have defied. This day will the Lord
deliver you into my hand. Do you think of the faith that
man demonstrated at that time? I think of the Roman centurion.
Speak the word only. I don't need anything to say.
Speak the word only. And my servant shall be healed. I could go on and on with examples
of great faith, but I believe the greatest instance of faith
recorded in scripture is what we just read. I believe that this is the strongest faith that there's
ever been. Now let me give you the reason
why I say that. The disciples had seen the Lord do what only
God could do. They witnessed this. They witnessed
him heal the sick, cleanse lepers, give people who were born blind
sight. They saw him raise the dead.
They saw him demonstrate creative power, bringing matter into existence
that was not there before. Our scientists sure can't do
that, can they? But he could when he fed 5,000 with two loaves
of bread or two fishes, fish, sardines, and five barley loaves.
He did what only God could do. Do you remember when he said
to the wind, peace, be still. He said that to the storm and
there was a great calm. And the disciples said, what
manner of man is this that even the winds and the sea obey him? They had witnessed so much. And they sat at his
feet for three years, hearing his preaching and teaching. And
where were they? When this man was boldly confessing
Christ, they were in hiding. They were in hiding. This man saw no miracles. That's very significant. He didn't
see one single miracle. All he saw was a seeming frail,
weak, emaciated man nailed to a tree with his visage so marred
you couldn't even recognize who he was. He saw him forsaken by
his friends, forsaken by or hated by his enemies, And he recognized what nobody
else there recognized. He's the Lord. He looked at that one hanging
on the tree and said, Lord. You reckon anybody laughed at
him when he said that? Can you believe he called him Lord? Lord. Remember me when you come in
your kingdom. You're not going to, you're going
to die. He recognized that you're going to die, but you're going
to return as a mighty reigning king. Lord, remember me when
you come into your kingdom. Now, this man was never baptized.
He never gave a dime to the cause of Christ. He didn't have any
good works. And yet Christ gave this man
more assurance than he gave any other man. Today, thou shalt
be with me in paradise. And if you and I are to be saved,
We're going to have to have the exact same faith that this man
had. Maybe not as strong. Matter of
fact, I'm sure in my case not as strong. But we're going to
have to believe the exact same thing he did. Now some have used
the thief to flatter themselves that they can put off the things
of God to a later date. The thief did. went right up
to the end. Now, if you think that, you believe
you have some kind of power in you that will enable you to repent
and believe when you need to. My friend, if that's what you
believe, you're sadly mistaken. Sadly mistaken. Some have used
the thieves' deathbed salvation to give them hope of their relatives. that something happened. You
know, I think it was interesting. For whatever reason, I read the
obituaries every morning. And in the obituaries in the
Lexington Herald-Leader this week, somebody said he accepted
Jesus as his personal savior on May 4th, you know, a couple
of days before he died, or a week before he died. You're looking
for some kind of flimsy way of thinking, having some kind of
hope for my relative, even though they weren't believers and didn't
believe the gospel, maybe they were saved at the end somehow.
Well, remember, God has given us one thief, lest we despair,
but only one lest we presume. Remember that other thief, as
he lived, he died. We just read in Revelation chapter
22 verse 11, he that's unrighteous, let him be unrighteous still.
He that's filthy, let him be filthy still. He that's holy,
let him be holy still. He that's righteous, let him
be righteous still. The point is, is as you die, I tell you,
you're going to spend eternity. And this one thief died hating
Christ. One died, but the Lord saved
him. And I'm glad the Lord's given us that. But one died in
hatred of the Lord Jesus Christ. And these two men remind us of
how close we all are to death and eternity. Both of these men
had just a little time to live. And you and I have just a little
time to live. And after that, eternity in heaven,
conformed in the image of Christ, or in hell, suffering the just
desserts of God's wrath. Now that's sobering, isn't it? Some present this thief as an
illustration of how little you need to know to be saved. I've heard this, I don't know
how many times, after all, There were certain doctrines. He never
heard this thief. This thief never heard of election. This thief never heard predestination. This thief never heard the word
redemption. This thief never heard of the
word justification. There are so many doctrines that
he never heard and he was saved. So why do you say that you have
to preach this and this and this in order to preach the gospel?
Because you've heard me say that. I don't believe a man can preach
the gospel, not preach election and effects or redemption any
more than he can create the universe. It can't be done. Now, why do
you say that? Because the thief didn't hear
any of that. Well, if he would have, he would have believed. I have no doubt about it. If
he would have, he would have believed. And let me tell you
why. Faith is not believing certain propositions and doctrines and
giving assent to them. Faith is in a person. And when
you see who that person is, the doctrine becomes obvious. It
becomes necessary. You can't believe in Christ and
believe that he could actually fail in what he was doing. You
can't believe in Christ and There's necessities that come with believing
the person. He's God. He's God. He can't fail. He must be successful. He's incomplete. He must be sovereign. If you believe the person, All
the doctrine just comes along with it. That's the way it works. Faith is believing a person. We're looking to a person, not
a set of system of theology or doctrines. We look to a person
and everything we believe is predicated on who he is. So,
well, the thief never heard that. He might not have, but he knew
who the person was. And if you believe the person,
you believe everything. Somebody says, do you have to
believe, fill in the blank, to be saved? You do. You do. Whatever it is in God's word.
Do I have to believe that to be saved? You do. Because that's
what believers do. They believe. They believe the
gospel. That's what a Christian is. He's
someone who believes the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now,
most would agree that this man had the minimal amount of knowledge,
and I'm not sure I would deny that, but as I've already stated,
this is the greatest faith this world has ever seen. Now it's
pointed out that in both Luke and Mark's account, that both
of these men went to the cross railing on the Lord Jesus Christ.
The scripture says they both cast the same in his teeth. They were both insulting Christ
and making fun of him. But while one continues in his
railing against Christ, the other grows strangely silent. He saw something that he had
not seen before. And while the one thief continues
to rail, all of a sudden, out of the blue, he rebukes him.
Don't you fear God? Seeing you're in the same condemnation,
and we indeed justly, we're receiving the due reward of our deeds,
but this man hath done nothing amiss. Lord, remember me. when you come into your kingdom. Verily, I say unto you, today
thou shalt be with me in paradise. And somehow I think that this
was the first fruit. Christ ascended, Christ died
before him, and Christ was the first one to meet him there. The first man to enter heaven
after the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now,
these two thieves are actually the two representative men. Me and you can be described by
one of these two thieves or one or the other. These are the two
representative men. Now on the middle cross, you
have one dying for sin. And on his left, you have one
dying in his sin. And on his right, you have one
dying unto sin. What was the difference between
these two men? They were equally guilty. They
were equally wicked men. They were criminals. I mean,
this man was a thief. So was the other. Hard telling
what else they did for the Roman government to condemn them with
such a horrible execution as the cross. They were both equally
wicked men. What was the difference between
the two of them? What happened? They both heard the same things.
There wasn't any difference between what the dying thief that was
damned heard than the one who the Lord saved. What was the
difference between these two men? They were equally wicked
and they heard the exact same message, yet one was saved and
the other was passed by. What was the difference between
these two men? Well, turn with me to 1 Corinthians
chapter 1, 4. Paul speaking to the church at
Corinth in 1 Corinthians chapter 4 verse 7 says, for who maketh
thee to differ from another? And what hast thou that thou
didst not receive? Now here's the answer to that
question. What's the difference between these two thieves? There's one answer. God sovereignly
made one to differ over the other. The difference was God. It wasn't
found in them. It was in God. God made that
thief who believed to differ an eternal election. when He
chose Him to be saved before the foundation of the world.
God the Son made the difference in redemption when He put away
His sins and gave Him His righteousness. God the Holy Spirit made the
difference when He gave Him life. He went up onto that cross, dead
in sins, and while he was on the cross, God gave him spiritual
life. And he was enabled to hear what
was being said. So we see these two men, both
equally wicked, hearing the same things. God was the difference
between the one and the other. And if you're saved, and that
person sitting beside you is not, you know that God is the
difference. It's not you. It's not some goodness
in you, it's not some work you performed, it's not some kind
of act of your will that made the difference. It's God alone
who makes the difference. And the first thing that I would
like to consider is what the first thief said, the thief who
did not believe. Let's look what he said in verse
39. As I said, they both began railing
on Christ in verse 39. And one of the male factors,
which were hanged, railed on him. That word railed means he
blasphemed. He blasphemed. He used blasphemous
speech. And what is it? I see two things
in his blasphemy. If thou be the Christ, save thyself
and us. If thou be the Christ, Save thyself
and us. Now here's his first blasphemy.
If. If. A true believer can have no assurance
of his personal salvation. Now that's not good. That's not
good. But there's not a day that goes
by at some point when I ask myself, could you really be saved? Could you really be saved? A
true believer may struggle with regard to assurance of his own
personal salvation. Some of you might be doing that
now. But I tell you what they don't struggle with. He is the
Christ. He is God the Son. If you would
have asked Peter after his denial of Christ, Peter, are you saved?
Probably not. Do you believe Jesus is the son
of God? With all my heart. Now understand
this, faith doesn't have anything to do with what you believe about
yourself. Faith has to do with what you
believe concerning Him. Could you forget yourself for
just a moment? Forget about whether or not you're
saved. Do you believe that Jesus is God's Christ, God's prophet,
God's priest, and God's king, the Son of God? That's what faith
is. But he called that into question.
You're the Son of God. And the next thing that I would
notice about this man, save thyself and us. This man had what every
natural man has, a sense of entitlement. You ought to save us. If you're
the Christ, you ought to save us. It would not be right, it
would not be fair for you to not save us. He had a sense of
entitlement. Verse 40, but the other answering rebuked
him. Where there is saving faith,
There is no sense of entitlement. He rebuked him for that saying.
You know, whenever I hear people questioning God's fairness, how
could it be fair for God to save one and pass by the other? How
could election be fair? Or how could it be fair for Christ
to die only for the elect? That's not fair. That's called
a sense of entitlement. That's all it is. You're saying
God would be wrong if he doesn't save me or if he doesn't save
somebody. God would be wrong. But he rebuked him for this.
You see, whenever saving faith is wrought in somebody, this
sense of entitlement leaves. The only thing you know is that
if God sent you to hell, you'd be getting exactly what you deserve.
You really believe that. He rebuked him and he said something
amazing at this time. He said, don't you fear God. He believed that that man hanging
beside him, nailed to a tree, bleeding and dying, forsaken
by everyone, he believed he was God. Don't you fear God. And everything he said after
that was predicated on this. He believed Jesus Christ was
God Almighty, the creator of the universe. When he said, don't
you fear God, he was talking about that one hanging on the
cross. Don't you fear God. How did he know? How do you know? Flesh and blood hath not revealed
this to thee, but my Father which is in heaven. He knew he was God the same way
you know he was God. It was revealed to him. And when God saves somebody,
they know that Jesus Christ is the sovereign God of the universe
in absolute control of everything, everybody, and every event. Don't
you fear God. And the next thing that I would
notice is that he believed in the absolute, and listen to the
word, the absolute justice of God. Don't you fear God, seeing you're
in the same condemnation, for we indeed justly, for we receive
the due reward of our deeds. This man believed in the absolute
justice of God in whatever he did. Now, when someone has true
saving faith, they believe in the absolute justice of God. Whatever he does is just, they
can never be satisfied with anything that doesn't line up with the
absolute supreme justice of God. That's seen in the great doctrine
of justification. I can't be satisfied with something
that's not just. Could you be satisfied with a
judge who'd just let criminals go free? Let them back out into
society? You couldn't be satisfied with
that. Well, you'd get rid of that judge, wouldn't you? I mean,
we have to have a sense of the absolute justice of God. And
that is seen in the great truth that only the scripture reveals
of justification. I think of that Publican at the
temple. God, be merciful to me, the sinner. And Christ said, I say unto you,
that man went down to his house justified. No guilt, nothing
to condemn him for. That's what the gospel does.
And the only thing that satisfies me is a gospel that magnifies
the justice of God, because every believer believes God is just.
Shall not the judge of the earth do right? We believe naturally. Even an unbeliever believes this,
whether he'll admit it or not. God is just, and he's going to
reward the perfect, the not guilty, and punish the guilty. The big
question is how can somebody become not guilty? Every believer
believes in the absolute justice of God. We indeed justly, for
we receive the due reward of our deeds. And this man believed
himself to be a sinner. That's clear enough, isn't it?
We're getting exactly what we deserve. And let me tell you
what every believer has in common. Every one of them without exception.
They all believe themselves to be sinners. Deserving the wrath
of God. Unable to fix it. Unable to make
themselves not sinners. This man knew he couldn't make
himself righteous. Every believer believes that
they all have this in common. They believe themselves to be
sinners. This man said, we indeed justly, we're getting exactly
what we deserve. Every believer will go right
with that. He believed himself to be a sinner,
deserving nothing but condemnation. Again, no sense of entitlement
here. No sense of God. Oh, save us,
save us, save yourself, save us. He wouldn't have said that.
He believed himself to be a sinner before God, and this man believed
in the sinlessness of Jesus Christ. This man hath done nothing amiss. Do you believe that? Do you believe
that Jesus Christ never sinned? That he's the only perfect, holy
man to ever live? The absolute sinlessness, the
perfection, the spotlessness of the Lord Jesus Christ. When
he made that statement, this man had done nothing amiss. He
didn't simply mean he didn't commit the same crimes we have.
He never sinned. He believed in the absolute sinlessness
of the Lord Jesus Christ. You know what? I do too. I believe
what the thief believed. I believe he's God. I believe
I'm a sinner. I believe he's absolutely just.
I believe he never sinned. I believe what the thief believed. And here is what I think is most
amazing. Remember, this man never saw
a miracle. He never saw a miracle. All he saw was a man nailed to
a tree, seemingly helpless. And he looked at that man and
he said, Lord, Lord, He believed that this man
hanging beside him was the Lord. The Lord of creation. He created
the universe. The Lord of providence. This
man hanging on that tree controls everything. He's before all things
and by him all things consist. He believed he was the Lord of
salvation. He knew salvation was in this one's hands. He believed
in the sovereign will of the Lord Jesus Christ, being everything
in salvation. I mean, you can see that in his
prayer. Lord, remember me. All you need to do is remember
me and I'll be saved. That's the same prayer as the leper. Lord, if you will, you can make
me clean. Lord, remember me when you come
into your kingdom. He believed in the absolute lordship
of Jesus Christ. He could say with Thomas of old,
my Lord and my God. He believed in the Lordship of
Christ. I tell you, people talk about
how little this man believed. He believed everything, didn't
he? Now, notice also, he said, Lord,
remember me when you come in your kingdom. Now, this man heard
the sayings of the Lord from the cross. We know that Christ
died before this man died. And so he heard everything that
was said. And God the Holy Spirit, like
I said, he went up there dead in sins. God the Holy Spirit
gave him life through the gospel he heard. And he knew that Christ,
because of who he was, would come back as a mighty reigning
king. He believed that whatever Christ
did must be successful. You reckon he believed in effectual
redemption? You better bet he did, because he knew who this
was. He knew that whatever he did must be successful, and because
of who he is, he would come back as a mighty reigning king. Even though you'll die, you must
be raised from the dead, because what you do must be successful,
because you're the king of kings, and the Lord of lords And he
believed that salvation was in the hands of the sovereign will
of Christ. Lord, remember me. If you remember me, nothing else
will need to be said. He believed salvation to be utterly
in the hands of the sovereign will of Christ. Lord, can you pray this prayer
right now in your heart? Lord, remember me when you come
back as a mighty reigning king. King of kings and Lord of lords. Lord, remember me. when you come into your kingdom. Like I said, this man was not
baptized. Don't use that as an excuse to
not be baptized. But this shows you how baptism
is not salvation. This man was never baptized.
He never gave a dime to the cause of Christ. He didn't have any
experience that he could look to, no works to recommend him. He was nothing but a thief being
executed for a wicked life. And the Lord gave this man more
assurance than he gave any other man in the Bible. He said, verily, I say to thee, You all love it
when the Lord says that, don't you? Verily, I say unto thee,
today, this very day, thou shalt be with me. Isn't that heaven? Being with him, being in his
presence. Today, thou shalt be with me
in paradise. What happens to believers when
they die? I know this, they're with Christ
in paradise. Where's paradise? I don't know. I don't know about
the stuff that's gonna happen before the final resurrection
and all that stuff. There's so many different theories.
I don't know any of that and I don't care. I really don't
care. Being with him in paradise, what more could you want? What the thief believe. Well,
he had no sense of entitlement. He believed Jesus was God. He
believed God was just. He believed he was a sinner.
He believed Christ was sinless. He believed Christ was Lord.
He believed his work must be successful. He believed he would
return as a mighty king in his kingdom. And he believed salvation
was in the sovereign will of Christ. Now that's what the thief
believed. Me too. Me too. I'm sure my faith is not as strong
as his, but it's the same thing. That's what saving faith is.
May God give us all the grace to cry, Lord, remember me when
you come into your kingdom. Let's pray. Lord, how we thank you for the
excellency and the glory of thy dear son. Lord, we confess that
we believe him to be thy eternal uncreated son, the God of creation. And Lord, it's only because you've
been pleased to reveal him to us. And Lord, we believe salvation
is in His hands. We believe that whatever He does
or whatever He did is successful. And Lord, our only plea is that
He will remember us when He comes in His kingdom. And Lord, bless
this message for Your glory and for our good. In Christ's blessed
name, we pray. Amen.