The Man Who Looked and Lived

Q: What does the Bible say about the dying thief on the cross?

The Bible tells us that the dying thief recognized Jesus as Lord, and Jesus promised him eternal life, affirming the power of faith and grace. In Luke 23:32-43, we see the dying thief who, while hanging on the cross beside Jesus, expressed faith in Him by acknowledging his own sinfulness and asking Jesus to remember him. Jesus responded with the assurance, 'Today, shalt thou be with me in paradise,' highlighting that salvation is available even at the last moments of life for those who truly believe. This moment illustrates that faith, even in its weakest form, is sufficient to receive God's mercy and grace.

Q: How do we know the dying thief was saved?

Jesus explicitly told the thief that he would be with Him in paradise, affirming his salvation. The assurance of the dying thief's salvation comes directly from Jesus' words: 'Today, shalt thou be with me in paradise.' This declaration indicates that, despite the thief's past and lack of any religious works, he was saved solely by grace through faith in Christ at his moment of need. Martin Luther emphasized this profound truth: God’s grace can reach anyone, regardless of their life's circumstances or the time they come to believe. The promise of paradise reinforces the idea that salvation is a gift from God, not earned by works.

Q: Why is the concept of salvation by grace alone important for Christians?

Salvation by grace alone ensures that it is not our works but God's mercy that saves us. The doctrine of salvation by grace alone, as demonstrated in the story of the dying thief, underscores that no amount of human effort or righteousness can achieve salvation. Ephesians 2:8-9 clearly states that we are saved by grace through faith, not by works. This assures Christians that it is God’s undeserved favor and mercy that saves us, providing freedom from the burden of trying to earn salvation. The dying thief's last-minute belief exemplifies that anyone, regardless of their past, can obtain salvation through faith in Christ alone, which serves as a profound comfort to all believers.

Q: What can we learn from the dying thief's faith?

The dying thief teaches us that genuine faith recognizes our need for mercy and turns to Jesus in our helplessness. The dying thief’s response reveals key aspects of genuine faith: acknowledgment of sin, recognition of Jesus' lordship, and a humble plea for mercy. Despite his past, the thief ceased his blaspheming, recognized Jesus as the Son of God, and expressed a simple yet sincere request for remembrance. This teaches Christians that faith does not require extensive knowledge or years of piety but can be present even in dire circumstances. It emphasizes that anyone can call upon God for mercy, and He is always willing to receive those who come to Him in truth, regardless of their past actions.

Q: Why is the promise of paradise significant for believers?

The promise of paradise signifies that believers immediately enter God’s presence upon death. The promise Jesus made to the dying thief, 'Today, shalt thou be with me in paradise,' holds significant implications for Christian belief regarding life after death. This statement assures believers of immediate access to God's presence upon the death of the body. It affirms that there are no intermediate states like purgatory, contradicting many contemporary teachings. The thief was assured of his place in heaven, not based on any actions he could perform but on his faith in Christ. This serves as a source of hope for Christians, affirming that salvation through Christ leads to eternal life and fellowship with God immediately upon death.

Now before I read, let me say
this, there are very few passages of scripture in the Bible which
are more familiar to all of us than these verses that I'm about
to read. We're very, very, very familiar
with these verses. Luke 23, 32, and there were also
two other male factors led with him to be put to death. And when
they would come to the place which is called Calvary, there
they crucified him and the male factors, one on the right hand
and the other on the left. Then said Jesus, Father, forgive
them, for they know not what they do. And they parted his
raiment and cast lots, and the people stood beholding. And the
rulers also with them derided him, saying, he saved others,
let him save himself if he be Christ, the chosen of God. And the soldiers also mocked
him, coming to him offering him vinegar and saying, if thou be
the king of the Jews, save thyself. And a superscription also was
written over him in letters of Greek and Latin. and Hebrew, this is the King
of the Jews. And one of the male factors which
were hanged railed on him, saying, If thou be the Christ, save thyself
and us. But the other, answering, rebuked him, saying,
Dost thou, dost not thou fear God? seeing Thou art in the same
condemnation, and we indeed justly. For we receive the due reward
of our deeds. But this man, this man hath done
nothing amiss. And he said to Jesus, Lord, remember me when Thou comest
into Thy kingdom. And Jesus said unto him, Verily
I say unto thee, today, shalt thou be with me in paradise."
As I said, there are a few passages that are more familiar to you
than these verses, and they have been a source of comfort to many,
many people. Yea, I'd say to all believers
who know the holiness of God and the sinfulness of this And
we can say with John Newton, the dying thief, rejoice to see
that fountain in his day. And there may I, though vile
as he, wash all my sins away. Yea, we're comforted to know
the Lord came into this world to save sinners of whom I'm the
chief. So these words have been a great
comfort to many, many people. But these same verses have been
a source of contention to others. Rather than just receiving the
Word of God as it is written, they have chosen to argue, was
this man really saved? Did he really know God? Did he really go to glory? Was Christ asking him a question,
shalt thou be with me? Or was Christ making a statement,
thou shalt be with me? So they've chosen to argue and
debate. But I like to comfort, don't
you? I like to rest in the Word of God as it is written. The
Lord Jesus showed mercy to a guilty sinner. This was a man who looked,
even in his dying hour, in his helplessness and hopelessness,
and he lived. You know, if you'll take a moment
and consider when this incident occurred, This is what adds to
the importance of it. This is when it takes on greater
significance, when you realize our Lord's encounter with the
dying thief, when it took place, when it occurred. You see, this
right here, this right here was the hour to which all Old Testament
scriptures and pictures and types and patterns pointed. Right here,
lifted on this cross, is Abel's lamb. This was the one to whom
Abel was looking when he, by faith, brought that excellent
sacrifice. This right here on Calvary's
cross is the Passover lamb. There were thousands of Passover
lambs. Yea, could I say millions of
Passover lambs sacrificed. But this is the last one. This
is God's lamb. This is the one of whom Moses
wrote. This is the one to whom Abraham looked. Here on this
cross, here in this hour, is the atonement. Through our Lord
Jesus Christ, we have the atonement. All of those Old Testament priests,
with their bullets and rams and sacrifices, year after year after
year, going into the Holy of Holies, sprinkling the blood
with hyssop upon the mercy feet, that's all over. That's all finished. That's all fulfilled. Here is
the atonement. Here is the brazen serpent lifted
up. This is the critical hour. This
is the hour for which all types and patterns were designed. Picture this hour. This was the
hour of which our Lord spoke continually during His ministry
here on the earth. He said to the woman who was
His mother, at Cana of Galilee. He said, Woman, what have I to
do with thee? Mine hour is not yet come. This is the hour. When
he prayed to the Father, Shall I pray to be delivered from this
hour? For this cause came after this
hour. When he said, Finally in the garden of Gethsemane, Father,
the hour is come. This is that hour to which all
Old Testament types and patterns This was the hour for which he
came into the world when the angels stood there on the Judean
hillside and said to the shepherds, under you is born this day a
Savior. Here's the Savior. When he said
to Joseph, call his name Jesus, he'll save his people from their
sin. This is the hour of fulfillment
of that covenant of grace and mercy which God Almighty purposed
and decreed before the foundation of the world, the everlasting
covenant This is the great shepherd of the sheep, who through the
blood of the everlasting covenant has purchased all of his people.
This is that hour. And we have recorded only seven
statements that Christ spoke from that cross. Only seven.
Someone says he quoted the entire 22nd Psalm. Perhaps he did. I
don't know. But the Holy Spirit has recorded
only seven statements. One of them, I read to you, the
Lord, when they nailed him to the cross, the first statement,
he said, Father, forgive them. They know not what they do. That's
Christ our Mediator. Christ prayed for his people. Even some of these people who
crucified him were later converted to Pentecost. When he turned
to Mary, she stood beneath the cross, and he said to Mary, Woman,
behold thy son. John, go live with John. John,
behold thy mother. Here's the Lord our provider,
our mediator, our provider. Then when he cried, My God, my
God, why hast thou forsaken me, the Lord our substitute, forsaken
of God? Martin Luther said, God, forsaken
God. No man can understand that. No,
I don't understand it either. I believe it. He was numbered
with the transgressors, and bearing the sins of the transgressors,
and therefore the consequences of their transgression, which
is separation from God. Christ our substitute. These
are vital things, you see. This is the heart of the gospel.
This is the accomplishment of the will of God. This is the
fulfillment of the redemption of his people in this critical
hour. He said, I thirst. Here's Here's the man, Christ
Jesus, the mediator, the provider, the substitute, the man. He made
the rivers, and yet he thirsted, he made the tree from which,
he grew the tree from which they made the cross on which they
nailed him. He put the ore in the ground
from which they made the nails to put in his hands. And yet
he said, I thirst. Why in the world would God first,
when He could command the rain to fall on Him, He's got the
man here, fulfilling all that is required of every man whom
He saves. He's the representative man.
As a man, He cannot do these things, because I can't do them,
and He was limited to my capacity, man of sorrow. a man acquainted
with grief, a suffering man, a thirsty man. He's got to be
tried in all points as I am, yet without sin. And he cried,
it's finished. Can you even comprehend what's
included in that? The Old Testament promises, finished. Prophecies, finished. Patterns,
finished. Types, finished. All of these
are finished. He's taken away the first. and
establishes the second. Finished. What? Our sin. Finished. The curse of the law. Finished.
The covenant of work. Finished. Everything finished
in him. Finished! The battle is over. The victory is won. I finished
the work you gave me to do. Then he said, Father, into thy
hands I commend my spirit. That's our forerunner. That's
our advocate. Our forerunner has entered within
the veil, that's our exalted Redeemer. Into thy hands I commend
my spirit." So you see, and right here in the midst of all of this
that's happening, Christ the Mediator, Christ the Provider,
Christ the Substitute, Christ the Man, God-Man, Christ the
Redeemer, Christ the Intercessor, Christ the Forerunner. In midst
of all of this great redemptive work, accomplishing what God
had decreed from the foundation of the world, for He is the Lamb's
slave, in the midst of all this, there's a helpless, guilty, wretched,
defiled, corrupt outcast that the outcast casts out, called
on Him, called on Him. And he, in the midst of all that,
turned to him and promised him life everlasting. You know, it says both of the
thieves railed on him. Both of them blasphemed him,
but one of them ceased to blaspheme. One of them ceased to curse.
One of them, for a while, was quiet. And then he spoke. what God had revealed to him,
what God had taught him. You know, if you can ever get
a fellow quiet, let every mouth be stopped. If
you can ever get a fellow to think, if God ever brings him
to be still and know that I'm God, to be still and to consider,
to be still and to think on these things. That's why he said, come,
let's reason together. Know your sins, dear Scott. This
man was quiet. He stopped blaspheming. He stopped
cursing. He stopped railing on Christ.
And after a few moments, he spoke. And he spoke to the other thief,
and he said, don't you fear God? When he started fearing God,
I think right then, I think God showed him some things that caused
him to fear God. Don't you fear God? Seeing that
we're in the same condemnation, Who's this God he's talking about?
He sees in Christ what nobody else out there sees, what the
other thief didn't see. He saw the God maker. He, like
the centurion, the centurion spoke and said, surely this man
was the Son of God. This man was the Son of God.
And this thief saw that and believed that. God in human flesh, God
incarnate. He said, we're in the same condemnation.
And that God-man is under the condemnation of this man's condemnation. It's not his condemnation, it's
his people's condemnation under which he suffered. And he said
further, he said, and we indeed justly, we're justly condemned.
This man's done nothing amiss. We're getting what we deserve,
that's what he's saying. We're getting the due reward
of our deeds. We're guilty and we ought to
die. And then he turned to Christ, and he said, Lord, Lord, if thou
shalt confess without mouth Jesus to be Lord, Lord, whosoever shall
call on the name of the Lord shall be saved. These weren't
idle words. Lord, remember me. Think on me. Let me come to your
mind when you come into your kingdom. You know, Spurgeon,
writing on David's psalms, when he implores the Lord to hear
him, he says, David knows what he's saying. Lord, hear me when
I call. Because all in the world the
Lord has to do for you to be blessed beyond words is just
turn in your direction. Just acknowledge that you're
there. Just lend you an ear. And that's what this man says.
He doesn't have to go through all the spills. Lord, blot out
my sins. Lord, cover my iniquity. Lord, forgive my secret faults.
Lord, look on all these things. Lord, give me a home in glory.
Lord, build... He just said, Lord, remember
me. Let me come to your mind. And
my friends, that's all. In this matter of redemption,
life, all you need is one glimpse of glory. That's all you need. You don't need signs and wonders
and upheavals and bursting skyrockets and all this sort of thing and
feeling. You just need God to look your way. That's all. He ever looks your way. It's
all right from then on. That's what David said, when
I consider the sun, the moon, the stars, what is man that thou
art what? Even mindful of it. Mindful of it. Mindful of it. Lord, remember
me. Here you have the fear of God.
Dost thou not fear God? That's the beginning of wisdom,
is it not? The fear of the Lord. Here you have the acknowledgment
of sin. We are receiving what we deserve, that's what he said.
That's all David said in Psalm 51, brought out my transgressions,
my sins, wherever before me. Here you have a confession of
the Lordship of Christ. Lord, you're not going to stay
dead. You're coming into a kingdom.
That's what the man said. You're coming into a kingdom. A plea for mercy, remember me.
Whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved. And
our Lord turned to that man who looked, and he said today, you'll be with me in paradise.
Now I ask anyone here, I ask anyone here, people talk about
their sins and their weaknesses and their infirmities and their
failures and their inabilities and their lack of this, that
and the other and all these things, excuses. I ask anyone here, anyone
here, anyone who's thinking with me, who's following me in this
message, is there a person, has there ever been a person more
helpless than this man right here? Has there ever been a person
more hopeless, hopeless than this man? Nailed to a cross. Is there any man more desperate?
Has there ever been a person more desperate than this man?
He must have been a most wicked man to have been sentenced to
such a death. Perhaps he was a thief, perhaps
he was a murderer. He'd lived wickedly and he seemed
destined to die the same way. These people took him outside
the city wall and nailed him to a cross. The most ignominious,
hateful, wretched, embarrassing, humiliating death a man could
die. He was a dying man. He was hanging
on a cross. He couldn't move anything but
his tongue and his eyes. Nothing. Just his eyes. He looked. And
he cried. His days were numbered, his grave
awaited. I'm sure they already had his
grave dug, all hope was gone. Wicked man, dying man, helpless
man, hopeless man, desperate man. Now bring him one of today's
preachers, or one of today's soul winners, a religionist.
What does he have to offer this man? Identify or measure your message. Now what do you have to offer
this man? What can you tell him? He can't raise his hand. He can't walk an aisle. All you
have to do is walk this aisle. He couldn't walk. He couldn't
call a counselor. We have people waiting by the
phone. Wouldn't done him any good. I'm serious. I'm not being funny. I'm dead
serious. He couldn't call a counselor. He couldn't be baptized. He couldn't join a church, couldn't
pay a tithe, couldn't do a good work, couldn't help his neighbor. He couldn't do but one thing,
and that's look. That's all he could do. But you
know, according to the Word of God, that's all he had to do.
My God said in Isaiah 45, 21, He said, I'm a just God and a
Savior. Look unto Me. Look! Look, don't get swept up in all
these works, and duties, and deeds, and self-righteousness,
and religion of the natural men. Look to Me, and be you saved. All the ends are there, for I
am God, and there's none else. I heard a message one time on
the thief who died on the cross, and it said he couldn't work.
He couldn't walk, he couldn't wash, he couldn't witness, and
he couldn't wait. You couldn't put him on probation.
You couldn't wait till the elders met and hear his experience,
the man's dying. Hopeless, helpless, desperate.
That's the folks my Lord came to redeem. Is that right? I have six questions
for you from these words. This is my summary. I have six
questions for anyone who hears this message or hears this tape.
In the light of what I've read, in the light of what occurred
in this tremendous hour, in this momentous hour when our Lord
died on that cross, in the light of what we have right here, I
ask you six questions. The first one is this. Have I
not the right to say that this man was saved? Was he? Was he saved? Christ said he was. Christ said
he was. Christ said today, this day,
shalt thou be with me in paradise. J.C. Rouse said, of all the multitudes,
listen to this, of all the multitudes of people redeemed throughout
history, no one, not one, ever received so glorious an assurance
of his own salvation as did this penitent thief, nobody. God never
said that to Moses, Jacob, Abraham, or Isaac. Go over the whole list of believers
from Genesis to Revelation and tell me to whom the Lord ever
said, today, shalt thou be with me in paradise. Not one. Except
this one. The weakest of all. The most
wicked of all. That's the one to whom he said.
So, he was saved, wasn't he? Second question. Then in the
light of this, have I not the right to say that this man was
saved by sovereign grace and not works? This man, he was saved, wasn't
he? We've concluded that. We've put that away, haven't
we? That's all right. We won't come back to that. All right,
how was he saved? How was he saved? He was never
baptized. He never took communion. He never
attended a church service, he never went through a Bible, he
never walked in and out, he never belonged to a church, he never
served on the Board of Deacons, never taught a Sunday School
class, never helped anybody. Rather, he stole from everybody. Here's a perfect example of Ephesians
2, verse 8. For by grace are you saved through
faith, and that not of yourselves. It is the what? Gift of God. The free, unspeakable, indescribable
gift Almighty God, not by works of righteousness, which we've
done, but according to His mercy He has saved us. It doesn't matter
where you are or when you come, look to Christ. That's right,
isn't it? Not by works, by grace, grace,
grace, grace, grace alone. Third question, from these words that we've just read. Do I then
not, do I not have the right to say also, he was saved, he
was saved by grace, that the youngest, weakest faith was saved? The youngest, weakest. This man
never read Gil, never read Spurgeon, never read Pink. He never read
anybody. He wasn't too much of a theologian,
was he? Not much. How long was he a believer? Not
very long. How much theology had he learned?
Not very much. I tell you this, he knew that
God was in the crucifixion of this man on the cross next to
him. He knew that he was a sinner,
an unworthy sinner worthy of what he was receiving. He knew
that Christ was the Son of God who was coming into the kingdom
And he asked for mercy. And God showed mercy to him.
And there wasn't any long process of learning all of these different
things that I'm told the fellow has to know. Is that not right? I have the right to preach that.
That I can say to any sinner in whom God the Holy Spirit has
quickened the desire to be saved from his sin, look to Christ.
Right now. Right now. Right now. We're not
going to have a catechism class on this and just cause confusion. We're going to point you to Christ.
You look and live. Do I have that right? I do. The
Lord said it right here. Look and live. Fourth question. Have I not the
right to preach in the light of this text that our Lord will
receive any poor sinner? any poor sinner who will call
on him in truth. Here's the proof of it. If I
ever had any doubts that Christ would receive sinners, take me
to Calvary and point this thief to this thief. This man's a thief. This man's wicked. This man is
a person that the Romans even cast out. I mean, they had some
pretty shabby principles in Rome in those days, but they wouldn't
even let him live. They didn't want to live with
him. But the Lord said, you can dwell
with me. You can dwell with me. You can't live in Rome. You're
too wicked for them. But you can dwell with me. Our
Lord said, I'm not come to call the righteous. I think that sometimes
religious folks give the impression that Jesus Christ came into the
world to save good people. Well, he didn't. To begin with,
there aren't any good people. They just think they are. He
said, I'm not come to call the righteous. I'm come to call sinners
to repentance. This man was a bona fide, genuine,
self-confessed, unadulterated sinner, wasn't he? Well, if he
can save him, he can save you, Gerald. Or you, Cecil. Come ye sinners, poor and needy. Weak and wounded by the fall,
if you tear it till you're better, you'll never be better. You'll
never come at all. You see, let not conscience make
you linger, nor fitness fondly dream. There's no fitness except
in Him. All the fitness He requires is
to feel your need of Him. That's the gospel message. The
Lord is able to save any sinner, if you'll look. The fifth question. Have I not the right to preach
in the light of this, that all who believe on Christ, all who
sincerely believe on Christ and confess Christ, are saved and
when they die, they go directly to glory? Is that not true? I hear all
this talk of purgatory and soul sleep and compartments and all
these different things. But Christ, what did He say to
this dying thief, this penitent thief? Today. Today. This day, shalt thou be with
me in paradise. Where's paradise? Well, Paul
talked about that in 2 Corinthians 12 when he said, I knew a man
who was caught up to where? Paradise. The third heaven. That's where Christ Ascended
to third heaven took this man with him and to be absent from
this body to be present with the Lord all of these religious
Compartments and purgatory and all of these delays are simply
means of raising money Did you know that that's all in the world
there there means of? filling the coffers of Covetous
religious vain glory seekers, that's all in the world Why don't
preachers preach like the prophets of old and the apostles and the
preachers of old? Come in and preach to people,
tell the truth to people and back off and leave them alone.
Leave them in the hands of God. Paul said, I coveted no man's
silver or gold. Never even talked about it. Wasn't
even interested in it. He had a supply from glory. Abraham
said, I've lifted my hand to God. I'll not take anything from
a human being. That's all these are inventions
of religious hucksters to prey upon the emotions
of people. All who look to Christ are saved
by grace, and they go immediately to glory when they die. The last
question. Lastly, now listen carefully.
If this man is saved, and he was, if Christ redeemed this
man, forgave him of all his sins, took him to glory. There's only one way of salvation,
is that right? Just one way. Christ said, I'm
the way, the truth, and the life. There are two ways of salvation.
Then, do I not have the right to say that if this preacher
is saved, and these elders are saved, and anybody in this congregation
or in this town They're going to have to come to Christ and
be saved the same way this man came. Is that right, Mike? It has to be that way, or you've
got two ways of salvation. There's only one way, by grace,
the free gift of God, through faith. Look to Christ, whether you're
in the eleventh hour or the second hour of life, it doesn't matter. Nothing I did before I looked
to Christ contributed to my salvation, and nothing I do after I look
to Christ contributes to my salvation. I'm saved just like this man.
Now, if the Lord had let him get down from the cross and live
another 50 years, it wouldn't have made one bit of difference
in this world, whether he was a preacher or whether he was a plumber.
That's right. Whether he lived in Jerusalem
or whether he lived in Egypt. He looked to Christ there, and
he was saved. He looked to Christ the rest
of his days. That's the way men are saved. My faith looks up
to thee, thy Lamb of Calvary, Savior divine. Now hear me when
I pray and take all my guilt away and let me, from this day,
whether I live five more minutes, or five more years, or fifty
more years, Behold it thine. That's good news, isn't it? That's
the reason I say it's a comfort to sinners. And the Lord put
it in the Word just for that one purpose. To comfort His people. The man
who looked and lived. And I pray that every man and
woman and young person here this morning We'll do the same thing. Look and live. Look to Christ. Well, let's turn to number 199
in our hymn book.

The Man Who Looked and Lived

What does the Bible say about the dying thief on the cross?

How do we know the dying thief was saved?

Why is the concept of salvation by grace alone important for Christians?

What can we learn from the dying thief's faith?

Why is the promise of paradise significant for believers?

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The Man Who Looked and Lived

What does the Bible say about the dying thief on the cross?

How do we know the dying thief was saved?

Why is the concept of salvation by grace alone important for Christians?

What can we learn from the dying thief's faith?

Why is the promise of paradise significant for believers?

Sermon Transcript

About Henry Mahan

Comments

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