First of all, let's find in our
Bible there what we first read in Matthew 27, verse 38. Matthew 27, verse 38. Then were there two thieves crucified
with him, one on the right hand and the other on the left. Now
let's turn to one other scripture, actually two. Turn to Mark chapter
15. I think I can find this verse.
Mark chapter 15. Mark chapter 15, begin at verse
27. Mark 15, 27. And with them they
crucified two thieves, the one on the right hand and the other
on the left, his left. And the scripture was fulfilled,
which saith, he was numbered with the transgressors. You see that reference there,
Isaiah 53, 12. Now turn to Luke 23, Luke 23, verse 39. And one of the malefactors
which hang railed on him saying, If thou be Christ, save thyself
and us. Luke 23, verse 40. But the other
answering rebuked him, saying, Dost not thou fear God, seeing
that thou art in the same condemnation, and we indeed justly? For we
receive the due reward of our deeds. But this man, this man,
he done nothing wrong. And he said unto the Savior,
He said unto the Savior, Lord, remember me. You're a king. You're coming into a kingdom.
When you come into your kingdom, remember me. And the Lord answered
him immediately. He said, truly, that word verily,
truly, I say unto thee, now, this day, now, you're going to
be with me. You're going to be with me, and
I emphasize to be with Him. That's salvation. Salvation is
in a person. Thou shalt be with me in paradise. Whoever He is, that's paradise. That's paradise. So we see here
the salvation of a sinner. Was this man saved? The Lord
said he was. The Lord said he was. So we see
the salvation of a sinner. This is clearly what we see here.
The Lord Jesus Christ, as he's dying for our sin, according
to the will and purpose of God, to fulfill all scripture, he
reaches out his hand for a sinner. He reached way down. He reaches
out in his sovereign love, his sovereign will, and saving mercy,
and powerful grace, and demonstrates, demonstrates that he's able to
save to the uttermost. Even though he's nailed, he's
beaten, he doesn't look like a king. He doesn't look like
he's lord in the kingdom. He looks like a defeated, frustrated
reformer from Nazareth. But this dying thief with eyes
of faith sees in the Lord Jesus Christ his salvation. His salvation. Saving mercy to a sinner. We
know the Lord Jesus Christ didn't come to call the righteous. He
came to call sinners to repentance. For this is a faithful saying
and worthy of all acceptation. The Lord Jesus Christ came to
save folks just like you. Just like me. Sinners. Through
and through. He demonstrates indeed that He
is the King as the sign posted over His head said. This is Jesus
the King. The King. He's King in all things. He is the King of the Jews. He's
the King of all the earth. He is called in Scripture, King
of Kings and Lord of Lords. We certainly know that He's King
in creation, don't we? King in creation. Just turn one
page. Turn one page and look at John
chapter 1, verse 1. John 1, verse 1, he's king in
creation. He created all things by the
word of his power. In the beginning, verse 1, was
the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word, capital W-O-R-D,
was with God. The same was in the beginning
with God. All things were made by him. Without him was not anything
made that was made, and in him was life, and the life was the
light of man. And men were so depraved that
the light shone in darkness, and the darkness didn't even
comprehend it. Men loved darkness rather than
the light. He's king of kings. He's king in creation. He created
all things. How about this one? He's king
in providence, isn't he? The things that come to pass
in time. They were decreed of God from all eternity, of Him
and through Him and to Him are all things. All things are of
God, it says in 2 Corinthians 5. And most certainly we see
that He's King in salvation, don't we? He's King in salvation. He prayed in John 17, Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent. So he's king in salvation. He
will have mercy on whom he will have mercy. It's not of him that
willeth or of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy.
He plainly demonstrates for us here in a most clear way. that He's King and Lord in salvation. He saves this dying thief by
His sovereign mercy and leaves the other man to justly perish
in his sin. Now, neither one of these two
deserved anything but judgment and justice. No greater example
is seen in Holy Scripture than that salvation is of the Lord
in this one thief left to die in his sin and justly so, and
the other is taken to glory, united to the Lord Jesus Christ. Taken to glory, and think about
this. This man right now, this dying
thief rejoiced to see that fountain in his day. And there may I,
though vile as he, wash all my sins away. That man is right
now one with the Lord. We talked about that vital union. He's with the Lord right now.
Never to depart. Never to depart again. All this
was arranged and appointed of God before the
foundation of the world. This meeting wasn't a chance
meeting. He just didn't have an unlucky
day and ended up on the cross on the same day the Lord was
crucified. There's no such thing as luck,
chance, or fate. Everything happens by purpose.
Purpose. God saved this dying thief on
purpose. and that purpose was appointed
from all eternity. This was all arranged by and
appointed of God. I wrote a note down this morning
and I caught myself. I wrote a note and was thinking,
as many as believed are ordained to eternal life. Did you say
anything wrong with that statement? And I caught myself and said,
no, that's not right. As many as were ordained to eternal
life believe. There's a world of difference.
Those who believe are those who are ordained to eternal life. This dying thief was chosen in
electing grace before the foundation of the world. Beloved, we are
bound to give thanks to God for you, brethren, beloved of the
Lord, because God has, from the beginning, chosen you to salvation.
And in time, this dying thief was granted repentance and faith
in the Lord Jesus Christ just before he died. Repentance toward
God and faith toward the Lord Jesus Christ. Both faith and
repentance, where did they come from? They didn't come from within
the heart of that dying, depraved thief. Faith and repentance,
old Arthur Pink said, is exotic. It comes from outside of us and
it's planted within us. Faith is called the gift of God.
Repentance is called the gift of God. What a miracle of grace. This is true of every sinner
whom the Lord wisely saves by His purpose and grace. Think
about this. This purpose and grace was given
us in Christ. I love those two words, purpose
and grace. Purpose and grace. God saves us by his purpose and
grace given to us in Christ before the foundation of the world. The reason you're a believer
today, sitting here today, loving Christ, believing the gospel
is because God made you to differ from another. What a miracle
of grace. Throughout the word of God, we
see the Lord plainly displaying his sovereign will, his sovereign
pleasure, in saving centers by his sovereign grace. I like that. I like that. I'm glad that horse
that won the Derby yesterday, when I saw that lineup and saw
that horse, his name was Sovereignty, I said, that's my horse. I'm
going to get on it and I'm going to ride it. I'm going to get
on that horse of Sovereignty and I'm going to ride it. And
it's a winner. It's a winner. Christ is a winner,
isn't he? I'm glad there was no horse in
there named Free Will. Free Will would have finished
last. Sovereignty finished first. Why did that happen? Why did that happen? God brought
it to pass. I wonder how many people are
thinking about that word sovereignty. Where did that come from? Why
was that horse named? They named those horses for reasons.
Someone knew something about the sovereignty of God. And they
came up with that name. I'm so glad he won. I had all
my money on that one horse. Preacher, do you bet on horses?
No. But if I did, I would have had all my money on that one
horse. It's a winner. Sovereignty is a winner. Throughout
the Word of God, we see the Lord displaying His sovereign pleasure
to save sinners by His will and His grace alone. Let me give
you a few examples. The Lord had mercy on Noah and
his family while a multitude of sinners perished. Now was
Noah one wit better than the rest of the millions of people
that God drowned in the wrath of God? Noah was not one wit
better, but Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. The
Lord said of Noah, God saw that the wickedness of man, the wickedness
of Noah was great in the earth, and that every imagination of
Noah's heart was evil continually, But Noah found grace in the eyes
of the Lord. Same way this dying thief. Same
way that you have found grace. Noah was not one wit different. God made him different. I'll
give you another example. God called Abraham out of idolatry
and bondage. Well, Abraham's father and family
perished in their idolatry. God called Abraham out of idolatry. God gave him faith to believe.
Abraham believed God and it was counted to him for righteousness.
God gave him faith. That's the only reason he believed.
Another example we see in scripture, the Lord loved and saved Jacob
and hated and passed by Esau that the purpose of God according
to election might stand. Another example of sovereign
mercy we've seen in our study in the book of Matthew, Peter,
Swore up and down. Jumped up and down. Said, I'll
never deny you. I'll never leave you. And yet,
he denied him three times. I don't know the man. And then
he cursed a little bit. Said, I for sure don't know that
man. And the Lord forgave him because Peter had an intercessor. Peter had a mediator. The Lord said to Peter, I prayed
for you that your faith fail not. And then we see another
example of an apostle. His name was Judas. Judas sold
the Lord, betrayed the Lord for 30 pieces of silver. And he led
that band of Roman soldiers out there, and those other soldiers
from the Jewish Sanhedrin, and betrayed him with a kiss. And
this is the man. grab him, take him. What Peter did was not any worse
than what Judas did, and yet Peter was saved and Judas perished
in his sin. What makes the difference? If
you say the difference was in Peter or Judas, you believe that
salvation is by works. What made the difference? Who
made the difference? It's God who made us to differ,
right? The distinguishing difference,
whether man is saved or lost, justified or damned, forgiven
of his sin or dies in his sin, is the sovereign mercy and grace
of God alone. He will have mercy on whom he
will have mercy. He said, all that the Father
hath given to me, they'll come to me. And those that come to
me, I'll never cast them out. Now one wise preacher of the
past, and I don't know, I'd give credit if I knew, but I don't
know. One wise preacher of the past said, in those three men,
the thief on one side, the thief on the other side, and the Lord
Jesus Christ in that center, on that center cross. One wise
preacher of the past said these three men represent three things. One died in his sins, The unrepentant
thief died in his sin and was justly condemned. If you believe
not that I am he, you'll die in your sins. We see the one
on the center cross, the Lord Jesus Christ. We see that the
Lord Jesus Christ was dying for sin. One died in his sin. One died for the sin of his covenant
people. The elect of God, his sin was
laid upon him. He bare our sin in his own body
on the tree. Christ suffered once for the
unjust to bring us unto God. The other thief we see was granted
repentance and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and died to the
condemnation of sin. I thought that's a good way to
remember that. He died to the condemnation of
sin for In Christ there is therefore now no condemnation to those
who are in Christ Jesus. When did this man, this dying
thief, get in Christ Jesus? It just didn't happen that day. He's been in the Lord Jesus Christ
as God chose Him to salvation from the foundation of the world.
The foundation of God stands as sure. The Lord knoweth them
that are His. He knows His sheep by name and
He leads them out. We don't know what this repentant
thief's name was, but the Lord knew him and the Lord knew he's
one of My sheep. Now I'm going to take him to
glory now, this day. We're going to glory. He gave
Him eternal life. Now, several things here. The
first one is this. Both of those dying thieves were
justly condemned, right? They were both thieves. They
had been probably given their day in court. and they were condemned
for their crimes against Rome and for their sins against God.
They were both guilty. The law of God says we're guilty
before God. This is true of us. We don't
deserve anything but the justice and wrath of a holy God because
we've sinned against God. Both of these thieves at one
time railed and mocked the Lord. It says there in Matthew 27,
The things also which were crucified with him cast the same in their
teeth. If thou be the Christ, verse
39, one of the malefactors which hanged railed on him saying,
if thou be the Christ, save us. Mockingly, at one time they both
said that, according to Matthew 27. If thou be the Christ, if
thou be the Savior and the King of the Jews, save thyself and
save us. Both of these men were desperate.
Both of these men were in urgent need of help, urgent need of
mercy, and urgent need of forgiveness. But only one received mercy. Secondly, verse 40, it says there
in Luke 23, verse 40, but the other answering rebuked him,
saying, thus Not thou fear God, seeing that we're in this condemnation. Don't you fear God? Man by nature
doesn't. There's no fear of God before
their eyes. Romans chapter 3. Men by nature
have no reverence or fear of God. They have no love for God. Just men love darkness rather
than the light. The carnal mind is enmity against
God. That word enmity is a strong
word. deep-rooted, deep-seated hatred against God. The natural
man receives not the things of the Spirit of God. That's why
the gospel is offensive to the natural man. But we don't try
to remove the offense. If you try to remove the offense
to make it pleasant to the flesh, you take the power out. You take
the message out. This dying thief was granted
faith and given repentance to reverence God and to condemn
himself. He said, we're getting what we
deserve. He said, we are sinners. We indeed, verse 41, justly,
he confesses he's a sinner. He's getting what He deserves,
for we receive the due reward of our deeds. But then He confesses
the Lord Jesus Christ. He's the Holy One of God. He
is indeed the Son of God. He believed the Lord Jesus Christ
to be the spotless Lamb of God. He believed He was the Christ
of God. He believed He was the Savior, the King. How did He
know that? There was a big bold sign in
bold letters over his head, this is the King of Salvation. He was given faith and he believed
that. He believed, this is my King.
If anybody can save me, it's my King, my Lord, my God, my
Savior. That's what Thomas said, Thou
art my Lord and my God. He confesses exactly what saving
faith confesses. Jesus Christ is everything in
salvation. He confesses Him as Lord. Lord,
remember me. This man's faith was not born
of ignorance, but rather born of right knowledge. Think about
this. I don't know how many hours they
hung upon the cross. We know at least three. They
say that crucifixion can last for days, but to hasten their
death, they broke their legs. We're going to see that in just
a minute. But this man's faith was not born of ignorance, but
born of right knowledge. This man heard, we're going to
see next week, the seven sayings of the Lord Jesus Christ. Father,
forgive them. They know not what they do. This
dying thief heard the Lord Jesus Christ declare the Gospel. My
God, my God, why hast thou forgiven me? It is finished. Father, into
thy hand I commend my spirit. This dying thief heard The Gospel
from the lips of the God-man mediator. Faith comes by hearing. Hearing by the Word of the Lord. This man's faith was not born
of ignorance, but born of right knowledge of God. Saving faith. The faith of God's elect acknowledges
the truth. Verse 42. He said to the Savior,
Lord, You're Lord in salvation. You're
Lord. Would you remember me? Lord,
you're coming into a kingdom. You have a kingdom. You're king
in salvation. You're coming into a kingdom.
Lord, would you remember me? I'm a mercy beggar. Would you
have mercy on me, thee sinner? And the Lord said, whosoever
shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. This man's
calling. Who's he calling upon? The Lord.
Was he saved? God said he was. He took him
to glory. Saving faith has one object.
Christ. Looking unto Jesus, the author
and finisher of our faith. He's the only just God and Savior.
He said that in Isaiah over and over. I am God. Beside me there
is no other. Then he said, look. Look unto
me. And he saved. Beside me I'm God. Beside me there is no other.
He looked to the only one who could save him. He couldn't look
to Pilate, could he? He could cry out, Pilate, save
me! He couldn't cry out to his buddy,
he couldn't cry out to his friend that was released, Barabbas,
where did he go? Barabbas, come back and help
me! Barabbas couldn't help him, Pilate couldn't help him, Herod
couldn't help him, couldn't help himself could he? The Lord, have
mercy upon me, Lord, have mercy upon me. He looked to the only
one who could save him. He put his total confidence upon
the Lord Jesus Christ to trust the salvation of a soul and the
forgiveness of a sin to the only one who had power to pardon,
the only one who There is a fountain filled with blood drawn from
Emmanuel's veins. Who's Emmanuel? God with us.
And there may I, though vile as he, wash all my sins away. The dying thief rejoiced to see
that fountain in his day. That dying thief heard the gracious
word from the Lord and Savior, and he looked to the Lord for
pardon alone. The Lord Jesus Christ died. before this repentant
thief died, and he heard everything that the Lord Jesus Christ said.
And he was granted heart faith. Some think, you remember we read
in Matthew 27, it said, my God, my God, why hast thou
forsaken me? That comes from Psalm 22. But some of the old writers think
that the Lord Jesus Christ quoted the whole psalm, Psalm 22. And Psalm 22 finishes with, it
is finished, it is done for a people given to him. He was granted
heart's faith from the word of the Lord. He heard everything
the Lord said. He heard him say, it's finished,
it's done. He trusted the Lord Jesus Christ
as the king of his salvation. Lord, you coming into a kingdom,
would you remember me? Now think about this, as this
dying thief is looking to the Lord Jesus Christ. Now how far
away he was, I don't know. But maybe just a few feet away.
And he turns and looks at this man that had been beaten, had
been whipped, had a crown of thorns crushed down his brow,
his face is bloody and bruised and mangled. He doesn't look
like a king. But he looks beyond the physical
realm with eyes of faith he sees in the Lord Jesus Christ. Faith
is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not
seen. He looks beyond just a mere man to God, man, the Lord Jesus
Christ for all of his salvation. He confesses his lordship and
he bows to it. Saving faith looks past those
things. and looks to the glorious person,
the Lord Jesus Christ. That same Jesus whom you crucified,
He's both Lord and Christ. And then He makes this amazing
statement in verse 43. The Lord said to him, truly,
I say to you, that's the effectual, fervent call to this one sinner,
I say to you, It's a personal call, isn't it? It's a powerful
call. It's an irresistible call. I
say to you, to you, right now, today, this day, you'll be with
me. You'll be with me. Now, wherever
he is, that's paradise. Wherever he is, that's paradise.
So I would emphasize this. You'll be with me. He said, you'll
be one with me. You are one with me. And we'll
be together forever. Nothing can separate us from
the love of God, which is in the Lord Jesus Christ. This day,
and that word there, today, as I pointed out, is used 40 times
in Scripture, and often times it's translated this day, or
even translated now. I say to you, now we're going
to glory. We're going to paradise. Now,
turn to John 19. Let me show you this. Let me
show you this. John 19. The Lord Jesus Christ
died before these two thieves died. Look at John 19. John 19.28. John 19.28. Now this is real important here. I'm going to make a very strong
point here. John 19, 28. After this, Jesus,
knowing that all things were now accomplished, that the scripture
might be fulfilled, said, I thirst. Now when, therefore, now there
was a set of vessel full of vinegar, and they filled it, filled a
sponge with vinegar, and put upon hyssop, and put it to his
mouth. When Jesus, therefore, had received
the vinegar, he said, it is finished. He bowed the head. He gave up
the ghost. And he died, didn't he? He died
for our sin according to Scripture. Guess who's still living? The
thief on the right and the thief on the left. The Jews, therefore,
because it was the preparation that the body should not remain
upon the cross on the Sabbath day, for that Sabbath day was
a high day besides Pilate, that their legs might be broken
and that they might be taken away. Now why did they break
their legs? To hasten death. So if you're
nailed this way or this way, it doesn't matter, but you use
your legs to push up to get some air. And when they come with
a mallet and smash their legs, there's no support. and you suffocate
and you die. So these two thieves, the Lord
had already died, these two thieves are still living, and they come
and they break their legs that they might be taken away. And
they came, verse 32, the soldiers break the legs of the first and
the other which was crucified. And when they came to the Lord
Jesus, they saw that he was dead already, they break not his legs. But one of the soldiers with
a spear pierced his side and forthwith came came there out
blood and water, and he that saw it bare record, and his record
is true, and he knoweth that he saith true, that you might
believe, these things were done, that the scripture might be fulfilled,
a bone of him shall not be broken. And again another scripture saith,
they shall look on him whom they have pierced. Now this dying
thief was saved by the grace of God through the blood atonement
of the Lord Jesus Christ. And that covenant of grace is
an everlasting covenant. Was this dying thief saved? Yes. Saved by God's purpose and
grace, right? Giving him in Christ before the
foundation of the world. Now there are those in religious
circles that say that in order to be regenerated and have your
sin put away, you need to be baptized in water. They say that strongly. They
believe that strongly. And then we often say to them,
in a way of debate, I guess you would say, or a way to refute
that argument, we say, well, the dying thief was not baptized,
was he? And the Lord took him to glory.
And they say back to us, well, well, the covenant of grace was
not yet in effect because the Lord had not died. Oh, wait a
minute now. He was already dead. And he was not baptized. And
the Lord took him to glory. Do you see what I'm saying? I think that blows their argument
completely to pieces, doesn't it? The blood of the covenant of
the Lord Jesus Christ has always been in effect. God saved Adam
because of that blood covenant. God saved Abraham because of
that blood covenant. God saved Noah because of that
blood covenant. God saved every sinner whom he
wisely saved by that blood covenant, not water baptism. Paul said, I didn't come to baptize,
I came to preach the gospel. So we learn that salvation is
by the free and sovereign grace alone, apart from anything we
do or bring. Right? It's not our baptism that
saves us, it's Christ who saves us through His blood and righteousness. It's always been that way. It's
not our works that saves us, it's Christ alone that saves
us. Not by works of righteousness which we've done, but according
to His mercy. It's not, now listen to me, it's
not our faith that saves us. True faith receives the Lord
Jesus Christ who accomplished salvation. But this glass didn't
produce this water. What did this glass do? It received
it. And that's what saving faith
is. Saving faith, we receive the Lord Jesus Christ. It doesn't
accomplish salvation. It received Him who did accomplish
salvation. It's not faith to save. Through
faith receives Christ who accomplished our salvation. Watch it now.
It's not our repentance that saves. Our repentance does not
put away our sin. True repentance acknowledges
that the Lord Jesus Christ alone saves sinners, all his doing
and his dying. Repentance, the faith of God's
elect, acknowledges the truth. And true repentance given of
God also acknowledges how God saves sinners. We boldly say
and constantly say and always say that salvation is of the
Lord. I plan to bring a message from
that topic or subject over in Dingus at the Bible conference
on Friday night. Salvations of the Lord. If you
would have asked this dying thief about his salvation, what would
you think he would say? Salvations of the Lord. That's
what every believer says. Every believer who dies in faith,
dies like this dying thief, believing and looking to the Lord Jesus
Christ alone. Every believer who dies in faith,
as this thief did, believing and looking to Christ, for him
and for them, death is not punishment, this thief got promoted. He was
promoted. It was not penalty, it was paradise.
To be with the Lord, to be one with the Lord. Precious in the
sight of the Lord is the death of His saints. Psalm 116, Revelation
13, 14, I heard a voice from heaven saying, write, blessed
are the dead which die in the Lord. From henceforth the age
saith the Spirit that they may rest from their labors and the
works do follow them. The Lord Jesus Christ, He went
to glory. And this thief went to glory.
To be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord.
In Ecclesiastes 12, read that whole chapter sometime, it talks
about the frailty of the flesh. And the dust shall return to
the earth as it was, and the spirit shall return to God who
gave it. To be absent from his body, Paul
writes, is to be present with the Lord. May the Lord be pleased
to do that for us, to grant us faith, the faith of God's elect,
to cause us to hear his word, and to grant us faith toward,
in Christ, and repentance toward God. He is our resurrection,
and he is our life. You remember he said to Martha,
when Lazarus had died, And the Lord said, he's going to rise
again in the resurrection. The Lord, he said, or she said,
I know he'll rise again. She said, I know he'll rise again
in the resurrection at the last day. And the Lord said, Martha,
I'm the resurrection and the life. He that believeth in me,
though he are dead, yet shall he live. Whosoever liveth and
believeth in me shall never die. Believest thou this? Lord, I
believe. I believe, help thou my unbelief. And think about it today. Where
is that dying thief today? He's with the Lord. He's with the
Lord.