Open your Bibles with me, if
you will, to Luke 23. Luke 23. And if you all will allow me,
I'd like to pray just a minute. Our Father, I need Thee, I need
Thee, oh, how I need Thee. This congregation, oh, Lord,
they need Thee, oh, how they need Thee. Greg, when he comes
to preach, oh, Lord, he needs Thee. And, Lord, we acknowledge
our need, trust You to meet it. In Your blessed Son's name, amen. In verse 39, Luke 23, and one of the malefactors, malefactors,
which were hanged, railed on him, saying, If thou be Christ,
save thyself in us. But the other answering rebuked
him, saying, Doest thou not 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 this man hath done nothing amiss and
he said unto Jesus Lord remember me when thou comest into thy
kingdom and our Lord answered him and said truly or verily
I say unto thee today Today shalt thou be with me in paradise. I want to talk a little about
this dying thief's salvation, how God saved him. And the way
God saved him is the way He saves everybody. God makes no exceptions
in how He saves a sinner. And there's three crosses here,
three crosses. And there's the cross of rebellion,
that one thief who railed on the Lord Jesus Christ. There's
a cross of repentance, one thief said, Lord, remember me. And
then there's that blessed, blessed cross of redemption where our
Lord was hanging and his blood was being shed. And on these
three crosses, You have in these men on these
crosses, three of them, one man's dying for sin, our Lord Jesus
Christ. He's making that last sacrifice,
the only sacrifice, that one sacrifice that put away sin forever,
that put away sin, made an end of sin, made God himself to forget
our sin, Put it so far away that God himself can't remember it. That's what happened when our
Lord was dying on that cross. He was dying for sin. Sin was
put away once and for all by his blessed sacrifice. Bless
his name. I'll never have to deal with
it again as far as God's concerned. And then there's one man dying
to sin. That thief that said, Lord, remember
me. He's dying to sin like we've died to sin. And then one man dying in his
sin, which is an awful, awful consideration when you think
about it. A man dying in his sin. I've known lots of people
in my lifetime that's died in their sin. My mother died in
her sin. My daddy died in his sin. If my children die, they'll die
in their sin. If my grandchildren's sons die,
they'll die in their sin if God don't have mercy on them. Ain't
that right? That's the reality that we live
with. And then also on these three
crosses, you have in these three men, one man, he gives life. He is giving life. One man is
losing his life. And then one man is receiving
life. He's receiving life. And we look
at this thief on this cross, these two thieves, and we see
some blessed, blessed truths, some wonderful truths. And this
dying thief's last words and last moments of life on this
earth, he gave a good proof of his salvation. in the Lord Jesus
Christ. He gave a good confession of
faith in His last words, in His last hours. And it's a wonderful
thing to die knowing Christ. It's peaceful for those who know
the one that's dying that's knowing Christ. It's peaceful for the
one who's dying who knows Christ. There's no fear, no anxiety,
no dread, just going to go to sleep and wake up to be with
the Lord Jesus Christ. And that's what this dying thief
is doing. And few, few dying people ever
left behind such a good, good testimony of being saved by the
free and sovereign grace of God as this dying thief was. And
if men are going to be saved like this thief was, this dying
thief, they're going to have to, God's going to have to do
for them what he did for this dying thief. And I want to just
bring a few things. I won't take very long. The first
thing I want you to know about this dying thief and how the
Lord dealt with him and began to deal with him because he was
just like the other thief. He railed on, in Matthew 27 it
says that he railed on the Lord Jesus Christ himself. But here's
the first thing about this dying thief. He was concerned about
his companion's wickedness in reviling the Lord Jesus Christ.
Look what he said here. That verse 39, that malefactor
which was hanged, which were hanged, railed on him, saying,
If you be the Christ, save thyself. If you're really the Christ,
if you're the Savior, if you're who you say you are, save yourself. Why are you going through this?
Why are you suffering this? And not only save yourself, but
save us. Save us. Save us from this pain.
Save us from this agony. Save us from this suffering.
Don't save me from my sin. Don't save me from my wretchedness.
Don't save me from my rebellion. Don't save me from my hatred
of you. Don't save me of my disregard
for you. Save me and get me out of this
awful condition that I'm in. That's all he was interested
in. Temporary salvation. But this other man said to him,
and he said to him there, verse 40, the other answering him,
rebuked him. Rebuked him. And he said, he said, doest you
not fear God? Don't you fear God? We're here,
we're condemned. Justly so. Don't you fear God? And I tell you, the fear of God
is the very beginning of wisdom. You had that in your bulletin.
And you keep this, and look over in Ecclesiastes chapter 3 with
me for a moment, if you will. Ecclesiastes chapter 3. You know, the fear of God. I
was talking about it yesterday. When I was unconverted, the fear
of God kept me from doing, being worse than I was. And I was bad
enough, I was really, I just, I'm not, wasn't bad, I still
am. You know, you just don't realize how wretched, wretched,
wretched, what a miserable, wretched human being, sinful, wretched,
loathsome person I am. But the fear of God, when I was
a young man, kept me from doing things that I would have done.
I was afraid of what would happen to me if I'd done it. I was afraid
of where I'd end up if I did some of the things that I did.
And so the fear of God, though it was not a fear that produced
anything other than just fear, kept me from doing some certain
things. And one of the notable things about these days and about
a lot of people is that our Lord Jesus Christ himself and even
Paul says, there is no fear of God before their eyes. The Lord
Jesus Christ's name is used as a byword. Used as a byword. God's name is used as a byword. But this thief, this dying thief,
man fixing to go and face God himself, going into eternity. He looked at that other thief
and said, don't you fear God? Don't you fear God? What kind of man are you? Don't
you fear God? We're here justly. We're condemned
justly. I'm here because of what I've
done. And look what it said here in
Ecclesiastes 3.14. I know that whatsoever God doeth,
it shall be forever. Nothing can be put to it, nor
anything taken from it. And God does this, does this,
that men should fear before Him. You know, Psalm 130 says this,
Lord, if thou shouldest begin to mark iniquities, who should
be able to stand? And I'm going to tell you something.
For those of us that's been saved by the grace of God, he marked
every iniquity we had. If thou shouldest mark iniquities,
who would be able to stand? Well, everyone who he did mark
their iniquities is able to stand. But I know this, but he said,
If thou shouldest mark iniquities, who would be able to stand? But
there is forgiveness with thee, that thou mayest be feared. Huh? Oh, to be forgiven? For God to
take care of everything? Oh, and I tell you, he got angry
at this man, said, Don't you fear God? Don't you fear God? And let me tell you something
else back over here in Luke 23 about this dying thief. Not only
would he be concerned about his companion's wickedness in reviling
the Lord Jesus Christ. Don't you fear God? Don't you
fear God? When you get out of bed of a
morning, does God cross your mind? Do you get up and say, Oh God,
this is your day. Would you give it to me? This
is the life that you've given me. This is the soul that you've
given me. This is the mind that you've
given me. This is the health that you've
given me. This is the place that you've put me. Oh, to fear God. Stand in awe of
God. Back up from God. Don't presume
on God. Don't talk about God except in
the highest and holiest and most exalted awesome ways. If you
talk about God, always talk about Him high, holy and lifted up.
Always talk about Him in His glory. Always talk about Him
in His righteousness. If you don't talk about God,
always speak of Him in the most blessed way. Never make a joke about God.
Never regard God in a little way. It's He that made us. He holds
our souls in the palm of His hands. He holds my breath, and I'm grateful He does. And he'll got my last one marked
out for me, Greg. He's got my last breath marked
out for me. Bless his name. Got my last breath
marked out for me. I'll take it and that'll be it. And not only was this what this
dying thief did, he acknowledged his own sin. He acknowledged
his own sin. Look what he says there in verse
41. He said, and we indeed justly,
we're in the same condemnation. Why are you talking to this man
like this? We're here indeed justly. We receive the due rewards
of our deeds. This man acknowledged his sin. I'm here because I deserve to
be here. I'm the sinner here. I'm the
man here that's without God. I'm the man here without crime.
I'm the man here because I'm justly here. I'm suffering what
I ought to suffer. I'm dying for crimes that I have
committed. Was it for crimes that I had
done? He groaned upon that tree. Was
it? Amazing pity, grace unknown,
and love beyond degree. Look with me in Isaiah 5. Isaiah 5. This is the way, one of the most
wonderful things. I know this, if God ever makes
a man a sinner, he's a safe sinner. If God ever makes a man a sinner,
a God-made sinner, not a preacher-made sinner, not a soul-winner-made
sinner, not a church-made sinner, A God made sinner. A Holy Ghost
made sinner. The minute a man becomes a sinner,
that quick, the minute he knows he's a loathsome being, he's
saved. Because he don't know he's a
sinner until God makes him know he's a sinner. Look what is said
here in Isaiah 5 verse 8. We're talking about this man
acknowledged his own sin. Oh Isaiah said here, woe unto
them that join house to house. Look down in verse 11. Woe unto
them that rise up early in the morning to follow strong drink.
Look down in verse 20. Woe unto them that call good
evil and good evil, evil good. And then verse 21, woe unto them
that are wise in their own eyes. Now look over in chapter 6, see
5 woes. He is pronouncing woe on everybody. He is a fundamentalist. He is
a legalist. He is going to take everybody
else out. He is going to tell everybody else all that is wrong
with them. And then God, He said here in
verse 1, In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw also the Lord
sitting on a throne. If you ever see the Lord, that's
where you're going to see Him. Sitting on His throne, ain't
you, Todd? High and lifted up. And oh, and they stood there
and they cried, Holy, Holy, Holy to one another. And boy, when
He spoke, I mean the houses filled with smoke and the buildings
shook. Then Isaiah said, ah, listen, I was telling everybody
else what a mess they was. Then he said, woe is me. Woe is me. I'm the one that's
undone. I'm the one that's undone. I'm
the one that's in trouble. I'm the one that ain't got no
help. I'm the one that ain't got no strength. I'm the one
that ain't got no ability. I've been telling everybody else
what's wrong with them. And then come to find out it's
me. It's me. And oh, because I'm
a man of unclean lips. Oh, that's what we do. That's
what this man did. Look in Isaiah 64. I could quote these verses to
you, but ain't nobody else but here but us and the children,
so we'll take our time. He acknowledged his own sin.
And you know, we live and people say, well, this is the simplest
age we've ever lived in. Every generation said it was
the simplest age they ever lived in. Every generation said that. But
you know the worst sinner I know I've ever met in my life? I look at him every morning in
the mirror. I brush his teeth, comb his hair. I told Greg on the way over here
this morning, I said, if folks ever really found out about me,
know what I'm really like. They'd never ask me to the house,
they'd never take me to dinner. They'd never offer me a cup of
coffee. I said, I don't want nobody like that around me. Don't
want nobody like that around me. Somebody with a heart like
that. Somebody whose imagination is
so vile. I don't want nobody like that
around me. But look what he said, Isaiah
64.6. But we all are all as unclean
and all of our righteousnesses as filthy rags. And we're like
a leaf that just fades, fades away, blown off the tree. And
iniquities that come just carried us away like the wind, like it
blows those leaves off the trees. And that's what this thief did.
He acknowledged his own sin. And I'll tell you something,
beloved, We're going to face God for our own sin. We're not
going to face God for Adam's sin. We're not going to face
God for our father's sins. Not for our wives' sins. Not
for our children's sins. We're going to face Him for our
own. Luke, I mean, excuse me, Peter. He was out fishing one day. Fished
all night. That's what he did for a living.
The Lord Jesus told him to cast his net over on the right side.
He did, and he said, Lord, wait a minute. I fished all night.
I know about fishing. I know about fishing. That's
what I make my living at. And he argued with the Lord and
told him. He finally said, but nevertheless, it's your word.
I'll let it down. And when he got up those fishes, his sin
became so real to him in the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ
that he would talk back to the Lord, that he had questioned
the Lord, and tell the Lord how good he was a fisherman. You
know what he said? Lord, depart from me. Just go
ahead and leave me alone. Just leave me to myself. Just
leave me to myself. I'm such a sinful man that I
would just, just leave me to myself. Just leave me to myself. You ever felt that way? You ever
felt like it? You know, do you ever get to
the place where you just absolutely are astonished and amazed that
God could stay God and be just and save you? Do you just stand
and wonder at that? That God could actually save
you. You. Well, let's look back over here
again. Let me make another point. This thief, this dying thief,
this made an open confession of the innocence of our Lord
Jesus Christ, and he said again in verse 41, we're here because
we're receiving the wages of our sins, and justly so. But he said, this man, this man,
hath done nothing amiss. He confessed that the Lord Jesus
Christ was there, not for himself, wasn't there because of anything
he himself had done. He had confessed that and he
believed that. He said, this man hasn't done
anything. This man is innocent. This man
is here. Not because of any wrongdoing
he did, not for any sin he's committed, not for any crime
that he's ever committed. And that's what Pilate said,
and that's what Judas said, and that's what Herod said. He preached
that yesterday, last night. He says, you know that Judas
said, I've betrayed innocent blood. And look right here in
Luke 23, and look up here at verse 14. Pilate said this. This thief
said, Oh, our Lord Jesus Christ, this man's done nothing amiss. Look what Pilate said. He said
unto them, you've brought this man unto me as one that perverts
the people, makes the people go wrong, makes the people go
in the wrong direction, perverts them. And behold, I have examined
him before you and have found no fault in this man touching
those things wherever you accuse him. No, nor yet Herod, for I
sent him to you and lo, nothing worthy of death is done unto
him. This man, our Lord Jesus Christ,
you talking about a man, what a man. Pilate's wife said, don't
have nothing to do with this just man. I've suffered so much
in a dream because of him. Our blessed Savior, he's there. For one reason, one reason alone,
two reasons, let me put it, let me change that. First of all,
he's there to satisfy God, to honor God, to obey God. He's
there first and foremost as the Lamb of God, that God saw to
it that he would provide himself a lamb. And the second reason
he was there was to be there for sinners like us, as a substitute,
as a sacrifice, as a sin offering. as one whose own precious blood
is the only way that God could ever ever washes sinners' sins
away from Him. The only way in the world God
could ever look in any man's direction is when that blood
was shed, when our Lord Jesus Christ hung there, not for His
own sins, not for His own crimes, not for any fault of His own.
Our Lord Jesus Christ was there because He willingly, He said,
I delight to do Thy will. Thy will, O Lord, I delight to
do. And our Lord Jesus Christ was
there, and whether He is there for anybody else's sin or not,
I know He was, but you know who's sin He's there for? Mine. Mine. He Himself, He Himself
bear our sins in His own body on that tree. He was the just
for the unjust, being put to death All this suffering, they suffering
was the just condemnation of God Almighty, but our Lord Jesus
Christ was there for somebody like this dying thief, for somebody
like a sinner. I know we use that word so lightly,
you know, sinner, sinner, sinner. But oh my, I'm talking about
real sinners. I'm talking about Christ dying
for men so awful, so wretched, so vile, so despicable, so corrupt,
so wretched, that it nothing, nothing less
than God himself in the person of his blessed son. could ever make a man have any
hope of God hearing him, of God having anything to do with him. That's the kind of sinners I'm
talking about. Not these kinds that they raise. Are you a sinner
here? Oh yeah, I'm one. I'm talking about men, when they
look at themselves, they say, oh my God, how can God have anything
to do with it? That's who this man's dying
for. That's who this man's dying for.
Any of them around here? If I could just fall prostrate
in his presence this morning, right now, right now, if I could
just lay down here in front of you, just lay down flat on my
belly, and say, Oh God, have mercy on me. That's what I'd
do. That's what I'd do, but in my
soul, that's what I'm doing. And I tell you something else,
this man, not only did he make an open confession of the innocence
of our Lord Jesus Christ, He's here. He ain't done nothing to
be here. Me and you are. But he had faith in our Lord
Jesus Christ's power and will to save. Look what it says in
verse 42. He turned to this crucified suffering,
sufferer, and he said in verse 42, he said unto Jesus, they're
having a conversation now. They're talking. They're nailed
hand and foot to a cross. And he said, Lord, remember me when you come into
your kingdom. He confessed him to be Lord and
they had a kingdom. Now I'm going to tell you what
he is looking at. Our Lord Jesus Christ had been beaten till his
back. was bloody and bones were sticking
out. They had plucked his beard off
with their hands. He had a crown of thorns on his
head. And he was nailed like this. And that other thief beside him
was nailed the same way. And so this man looked over at
the Lord Jesus Christ, saw this man's face was bloody, Saw blood
all over him. Beaten bones, ribs were shown. Hanging there nude naked before
the world that he made. And he looked at that man. And he said, Lord. Oh, bless his name. Oh, Lord. Look at that, a beaten,
broken, bloody man. And he said, Lord, Jehovah, King
of kings, Lord of lords. And he saw him like that and
he said, you know what? You've got a kingdom. You've
got a throne. You know, these people around
here don't know that, but I know it. You've got a throne you've
got. You've got a throne to sit on.
You've got a kingdom to rule. You've got a people to rule.
You've got a nation to save. You've got a world to rule. Oh, and he said, Lord, Lord. Oh, you've got a kingdom. You've
got a kingdom. You're a king. You may be wearing
a crown of thorns right now, but oh, one of these days you're
going to have many crowns sitting on your head. On his head are
many crowns. Now, let me let me explain. So
let me see if I can say something about this. Can you explain how
he knew that Jesus Christ, the Lord of Glory, was there on that
cross, apart from Revelation? How can it happen? You keep looking. Look in Matthew 13. Matthew 13. We're talking about Revelation.
That other thief didn't see this. Excuse me, Matthew 16. Did I
say 13? Let's go to Matthew 16. I'm sorry. You explained how he knew he
was Lord and had a kingdom apart from revelation. Look what it says here, verse
13, Matthew 16. And when our Lord Jesus came
into the coast of Caesarea, Philippi, he asked his disciples, he looked
around and said, what are men saying about me? What are men
saying about me? Everybody's got something to
say about the Lord Jesus Christ. Everybody's got something to
say about Him. Everybody's got some idea of who He is and what
He's like. He said, Who do men say that I the
Son of Man am? Oh, listen, they say that you
love everybody and you died for everybody. You're going to die
for everybody. They say you made a valiant,
valiant effort to open the door for men to be saved if they'll
just walk through it. No, no, who do men say that I
am? And they said, well, some say
you're John the Baptist because you're such a strict, straight
preacher. And others say you're Elijah
because you preach with such power and such authority and
you do all these miracles. Another said, since you're a
man of sorrow and so acquainted with grief that some people say
you're Jeremiah because you go around so sad and so grief and
just such a, you know, so acquainted with sorrow. But he said unto
them, now let's get down to where it's at. Let's get down to where
we live. Let's get down to you, what you
think. Peter, what do you think? John, what do you think? James,
what do you think? And Simon Peter answered, Thou
art the Christ, the Son of the living God. That's who you are. You're the anointed of God, the
Son of God who lives forever and ever and always has And you
know what our Lord said unto him? Oh, how blessed, how blessed,
how blessed you are. Oh, Simon, you're so blessed. You're talking about blessed.
Oh, you're so blessed. God has so blessed you, Simon. Flesh and blood didn't make you
know this. But my Father, which is in heaven,
And that's the only way you can explain this man calling our
Lord Jesus Christ the Lord. That's the only way it could
possibly be that I was by revelation. And you explained to me how this
man knew this was the Lord Jesus and had a kingdom apart from
sovereign free grace. If sovereign free grace didn't
come and do something, quicken him from the dead just like that.
Huh? Our Lord said it this way, no
man can come unto me except the Father which hath sent me draw
him. And everyone that hath heard and learned of the Father, he
cometh unto me. And you remember the story about
Luke or Simeon over in Luke chapter 2. He is an old man. He is an
old man. And the Lord told him, says,
you know, Simon, you're not going to die. You're not going to die
until you see the Savior. Until you see the Christ. Until
you see. And so he was waiting for the
consolation of Israel. And I've got the consolation
of Israel. I've already got it, ain't we? But he was waiting. And the scripture says that he
went into the temple one day and the Holy Ghost revealed unto
him that this was him. He picked up an eight-day-old
baby and says, my eyes have seen thy salvation. This man seen
a crucified Savior, a man 33 years old. Simon saw an eight-day-old
baby, but they both saw it the same way by the Holy Ghost. One
saw a baby and said, I've seen thy salvation. Now just let me
go. And the other saw the Lord Jesus
Christ hanging, broken, bleeding, and mutilated, and said, Lord, remember me. Remember me when you come into
your kingdom. Remember me. And let me tell
you the next thing he did back over here in Luke. The next thing
he did was he prayed. He prayed. There again in verse
42, Lord, He said, remember me when you
come into your kingdom. Remember me. Let me tell you
five things about this little prayer this man made. His prayer
was short. It was short. He used nine words. Nine words is all he did. Nine
words. And you know most people when
you find them praying in the scriptures when they came to
Christ and Christ asked them what he will, most of them never
use more than eight or nine or ten words. It don't take a lot
of words. In fact, I would say that most
of us in this building, most of us in this building, we say,
Lord have mercy more than any other prayer we pray. When you
say that, When you say that, how many times a day do you say
that? How many times at night when you wake up and you say,
Lord, have mercy? Oh, Lord, please have mercy on
me. How many times have you prayed? And that's the majority of our
prayer. The heart cries. And so his prayer
was very short, just nine words. Lord, remember me when you come
into your kingdom. Secondly, it was humble. It was
humble. He'd already said that he was
there justly. It was humble. He made no demands. He never said, you know, I've done the best I can. I didn't
realize my life was going to bring me to this place. He didn't
say anything. He just said, Lord, remember me. And it concerned
himself. It concerned himself. Lord, remember me. Remember me. I'm in trouble. I'm in trouble. I'm dying. I'm dying. I'm fixing to leave this world.
My eye strains are going to close in death. And I'll tell you the
fourth thing he did, he prayed for spiritual blessings only.
He wasn't like that other thief that says, Lord, if you're the
Christ, save thyself. And then when you get down off
his cross, take us down with you. No, no, no. He prayed for spiritual blessings.
Lord, remember me when you come into your kingdom. Spiritual
kingdom. You're the Lord. You've got the
power. I don't have any power. I can't save myself. I can't
do anything for myself. And it was a powerful prayer.
It came from his heart. It came from the very depths
of his soul. Oh, Lord, remember me. Oh, remember me when you come
to your kingdom, when you get on your throne, when you ascend
your throne. When you sit down in your glory,
when you sit down where God gives you all honor, when you sit down
at that position of power and authority and they crown you
King of Kings and Lord of Lords and you're mighty in power. Lord,
when you get on that throne, please, please remember me. And that's the last thing he
did on earth. And may this be the last thing
you do. He begged to be remembered by our Lord. Begged. Are there any better words from
a sinner than, Lord, remember me? Remember me. Remember me, huh? Do you know,
and I could turn to it and tell you, but over in Malachi 3.16,
it says this, that God has a book of remembrance And he says, those that often
thought on his name. Didn't say they talked about
him, just thought on his name. He had a book of remembrance.
And he says that when he makes up his jewels, they would be
them jewels that he would make up. God's got a book of remembrance. And here is evidence. He said,
Lord, remember me. Beg to be remembered by the Lord.
And here is proof, without a shadow of a doubt, that salvation is
by the free grace of God, apart from any works whatsoever. What
could this thief do? He was nailed hand and foot to
the cross, but nailed hand and foot to that tree. He literally,
literally could not do anything for his own soul. And here is proof, beyond a shadow
of a doubt, there's absolutely no ordinance, no ceremonies are
needful to be saved. This man wasn't baptized. So that does away with the Camelites.
This man never joined a visible church. He never said, well,
would you all let me join your church? He never ever took the
bread and the wine. He never took the Lord's Supper.
He never walked down an aisle. He never gave a tithe. There
was no soul winner there that says, oh listen, I will lead
you to the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus loves you and I want you
to take these five easy steps now and you'll be okay. There
was no soul winner and nobody says now repeat after me, I want
you to pray the sinner's prayer. If you ever become a sinner,
you won't need nobody to teach you to pray, will you, Bert?
If you ever become a sinner, you won't need nobody to teach you to pray, will you,
Bert? If you ever become a sinner, you won't need nobody to teach you to pray, will you, Bert?
If you ever become a sinner, you won't need nobody to teach you to pray,
will you, Bert? If you ever become a sinner, you won't need nobody
to teach you to pray, will you, Bert? If you ever become a sinner,
you won't need nobody to teach you to pray, will you, Bert? If you ever become
a sinner, you won't need nobody to teach you to pray, will you,
Bert? If you ever become a sinner, you won't need nobody to teach you to pray,
will you, Bert? If you ever become a sinner, you won't need nobody
to teach you to pray, will you, Bert? If you ever become a sinner, you won't need nobody
to teach you to pray That's what Joseph said to that baker and
chef, says, oh, when you go back up to fame, don't remember me.
But here's a man said, Lord, I ain't worried about that fella. I'm the one here in trouble.
I'm dying. I'm leaving this world. I can't get off this cross. I
can't even get down on my knees before you. I can't get on an altar. I can't
do anything at all for you. There's nothing I can do. I can't
give you anything. My hands have got nothing in
them. I'm here because I'm guilty. I'm guilty. I'm guilty. I'm here
because I'm guilty. Oh, Lord. Oh, Lord. Oh Lord, remember me, remember me. When you come into your kingdom,
please let me be a part of it. Take me into your kingdom. Just
let me be there. And you know what our Lord Jesus
Christ said to him? Bless his holy name. And he said
unto him, I'm telling you this. Today, today, you don't have
to go to purgatory. You don't have to have any kind
of preparation today, today. You're going to be with me. In paradise, and you know where
paradise is, wherever the Lord Jesus Christ is. And every once
in a while, we get just a taste of it on this earth, like we
have in this meeting. A few times, you know, I was
allowed to get outside myself in the preaching. Yesterday,
Joe, last night, you preach. I got a little out of myself
listening to you preach. That's a wonderful experience,
ain't it, for God to let you just get out of yourself for
just a minute. But that, our Lord says today, and here's Here's
the key to this whole thing. You'll be with me. Be with me. Be with me. What's it going to be like? We
enjoy him so much here and we delight in him so much here and
we rejoice in him so much here. We worship him so willingly and
gladly here. and we delight in him so much
in here. What do you suppose it'll be like when we actually
get to be where he is? Let's just all go. Let's just
all go now. Lord, come take us all. Let's
just go now. Let's just go. I'll tell you something. That same man, that blessed Lord
Jesus Christ who saved this dying thief, took Him to glory with
Him to be with me, to be with me. And heavens to be with Him. He still lives today. He still
lives today. And old J.C. Ryle said this,
he said, there was one sinner saved that none should despair. but only one that none should
presume. Lord, would you say that, Lord,
remember me? Have mercy on me.