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good evening to everyone can turn in your Bibles with me to Psalm 110 our call to worship this evening Psalm 110 Psalm 110 beginning in verse 1 once again the word of god a psalm of david the lord said to my lord sit at my right hand till i make your enemies your footstool the lord shall send the rod of your strength out of zion rule in the midst of your enemies your people shall be volunteers in the day of your power in the beauties of holiness from the womb of the morning you have the dew of your youth the lord has sworn and will not relent you are a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek the lord is at your right hand he shall execute kings in the day of his wrath he shall judge among the nations he shall fill the places with dead bodies he shall execute the heads of many countries he shall drink of the brook by the wayside therefore he shall lift up the head amen well let's stand and sing our first hymn is in your Trinity hymn books the larger books there the hymn we're gonna sing first is 295 let's stand and sing that together 295 [Music] Oh [Music] [Music] [Music] let's go to our God in prayer let us pray God we rejoice in this Lord's Day evening that we can gather together a second time on this year Lord's Day Sabbath to worship you our great God and we pray once again that you would help us to worship you our right to worship you in spirit and in truth we pray Lord God that we would worship Father Son and Holy Spirit this evening and that we would leave this place of singing your praises we thank you so much for the forgiveness of sins we rejoice in Jesus Christ our Savior we sing the praises of your amazing and victorious Grace and once again we rehearse that great biblical truth that you did send forth your son in the fullness of the times born of a woman and born under the law to redeem those who are under the law that blessed truth that it's a faithful saying worthy of acceptance that Christ Jesus came into this world sinners to save we pray that we would just be rejoicing in that truth this evening rejoicing in the fact that our Savior has taken away sins that he's secured in everlasting righteousness that he has secured everlasting salvation for all those who believe in him we know that we're not saved by our own deeds of righteousness or know that we know that we're not saved by our own works but rather were saved as solely and alone by the perfect saving work of Jesus Christ our Savior truly we would pray on a second time this Lord's Day you would cause us in the context of worship to glorify and honor you and to reflect upon so great a salvation once again Lord God we would pray for those struggling physically we think of the bolts we think of Linda d Armani we think of Dawn Neufeld many others Lord we pray for those struggling physically that you would strengthen them that you would heal them we know as we often rehearse Lord God that you are the Great Physician and so we do pray that you attend to the bodies of your ailing Saints and cause them to know strength and vigor in the midst of that physical suffering that they would be resigned to your will in all things and that they would rejoice in their God we think this evening of the other churches we think of Surrey we pray that you'd be with Lord God we pray that you'd be with Mike as he preaches and be with that congregation do continue to grow them flourish them give them Sunday in and Sunday out that fellowship of the Saints that is glorious and keep Mike strong in the pulpit as he seeks to proclaim a week in and week out the Word of God fill him with all that he needs in order to carry out that office and we do just pray that you would bless that church as well that you bless the Saints in Vernon that you'd cause them to be encouraged in the midst of this work we do pray Lord God that you would bless them with a man that would be able to pastor them there we do look forward to to such a day when we have these three churches all of us up and running rejoicing in the Lord our God doing those things that churches ought to do in a in a crooked and perverse generation that we would all the three of us hold forth your word of truth and that we would shine as lights we do pray Lord God that you would be once again with your persecuted church as it grieves us to read these various letters on Wednesday nights and on Sunday mornings to hear of the persecution and the opposition and now the anger that is exercised and carried out against the saints of Christ throughout the world we do pray that you would strengthen our dear brothers and sisters in Christ that caused them to know the presence of their God caused them to know their God of all comfort and give them give them much grace the grace of endurance to endure the the attacks of their enemies to endure the persecutions and to be strong and faithful and steadfast in the triune God we do pray Lord God that you would bless us and worship is it is often our prayer or each and every Lord's day our prayer we long to worship you in spirit and in truth we would pray that we would see in these elements of worship these things prescribed by you for our good and for your glory as we pray and as we sing songs and hymns and spiritual songs as we read your scriptures as we engage in the preaching of the word we long to be attentive we long to be you're focused Saints we long to be those who find it a great joy to have gathered in the house of God and so do bless us now as we do so and we do pray that once again as it was this morning that all that we do Lord God would be for your glory say that the Jesus Christ would be exalted upon the praises of this assembly we would pray Lord God that you'd be with Jim as he continues on vacation we thank you that he's able to have some time and we do pray that you would strengthen him and give him refreshment and we do pray ultimately Lord God that throughout the week as we go about our sojourn in this lower world a Saints of the Living Christ that you would give us that strength whereby we can conduct ourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of grace and we do just pray that you'd help us in this and that once again you would be with us now as we continue in worship might Father Son and Holy Spirit be glorified I might our Savior the Lord Jesus Christ receive all praise and it's in his name that we do pray amen let's stand and sing again this time 3:15 if you'll stand with me and sing 3:15 together [Music] you can turn in your Bibles to the book of Haggai so we continue reading through the Old Testament we finished Zephaniah last lord's day and we're now in the book of Haggai I'll begin reading in verse 1 of chapter 1 in the second year of King Darius in the sixth month on the first day of the month the word of the Lord came by a haggai the prophet to zerubbabel the son of shealtiel governor of judah and to joshua the son of josedech the high priests saying thus speaks the Lord of Hosts saying this people says the time has not come the time that the Lord's house should be built then the word of the Lord came by haggai the prophet saying is it time for you yourselves to dwell in your paneled houses and this temple to lie in ruins now therefore thus says the Lord of hosts consider your ways you have sown much and bring in little you eat but do not have enough you drink but you are not filled with drink you clothed yourselves but no one is warm and he who earns wages earns wages to put into a bag with holes thus says the Lord of hosts consider your ways go up to the mountains and bring wood and build the temple that I may take pleasure in it and be glorified says the Lord you looked for much but indeed it came too little and when you brought it home it blew away why says the Lord of hosts because of because of my house that is in ruins while every one of you runs to his own house therefore the heavens above you withhold the dew and the earth with holds its fruit for I called for a drought on the land and the mountains on the grain in the new wine and the oil on whatever the ground brings forth on men and livestock and on all the labour of your hands then zerubbabel the son of shealtiel and joshua the son of josedech the high priest with all the remnant of the people obeyed the voice of the Lord their God and the words of Haggai the Prophet as the Lord their God had sent him and the people feared the presence of the Lord then hey guy the Lord's messenger spoke the Lord's message to the people saying I am with you says the Lord so the Lord stirred up the spirit of zerubbabel the son of shealtiel governor of Judah and the spirit of joshua the son of josedech the high priest and the spirit of all the remnant of the people and they came and worked on the house of the Lord of Hosts their God on the 24th day of the sixth month in the second year of King Darius amen well let us pray God we rejoice in the reading of your holy scriptures God we rejoice in the presence of you among your people and the encouragement you bring to the people of God we pray as we dwell in this house Lord that you would help us to be those worshippers of yours we are the Blessed beneficiaries of your amazing in victorious grace we have this particular house wherein we can gather to worship You Father Son and Holy Spirit and we would pray Lord God that you would always impress upon us the high honor it is to be able to gather together in the house of God as the people of God worshiping our great God and to impress that upon us now as we continue in worship and we pray in the name of Jesus Christ our Savior amen well we're going to stand again and sing one more time before the preaching of the word this time all hail the power of Jesus name that's 218 in the Trinity hymnals 218 and it's the first tune let's stand and sing together [Music] Oh Oh you can turn in your Bibles back to Luke chapter 23 Luke 23 I'll again begin verse reading in verse 26 reading 2 verse 43 Luke 23 beginning in verse 26 the Word of God now as they led him away they laid that they laid hold of a certain man Simon a Cyrenian who was coming from the country and on him they laid the cross that he might bear it after Jesus and a great multitude of the people followed him and women who also mourned and lamented him but Jesus turning to them said daughters of Jerusalem do not weep for me but weep for yourselves and for your children for indeed the days are coming in which they will say blessed are the barren wombs that never bore and breasts which never nursed then they will begin to say to the mountains fall on us into the hills cover us for if they do these things in the Greenwood what will be done in the dry there were also two others criminals led with him to be put to death and when they had come to the place called Calvary there they crucified Him and the criminals one on the right hand and the other on the left then Jesus said Father forgive them for they do not know what they do and they divided his garments and cast lots and the people stood looking on but even the rulers with them sneered saying he saved others let him save himself if he is the Christ the chosen of God the soldiers also mocked him coming and offering him sour wine and saying if you are the King of the Jews save yourself in an inscription also was written over him in letters of Greek Latin and Hebrew this is the King of the Jews then one of the criminals who were hanged blaspheme him saying if you are the Christ save yourself and us but the other answering rebuked him saying do you not even fear God seeing you are under the same condemnation and we indeed justly for we receive the due reward of our deeds but this man has done nothing wrong then he said to Jesus Lord remember me when you come into your kingdom and Jesus said to him assuredly I say to you today you will be with me in paradise amen let us pray God we thank you for again the preaching of your word we pray that you would a blessed preacher and here now with your Grace and with your strength and you might receive glory in the act of preaching we pray Lord God that this particular exercise in worship would be for your glorious sake and for your people's good and we prayed as we pray each and every time when the minister of your gospel proclaims your word we pray that much good would come that Saint would be edified that sinner would be saved and that the triune God would be honored and glorified we pray that now in Christ's precious name Amen well you'll remember from this morning we noted that this is of course that day of day in that hour of hours the crucifixion of our Lord Jesus Christ this is the occasion that we were particularly particularly were looking at was this occasion of the discourse with the dying thief but not leaving out a particular individual that precedes the the scene with the dying thief in the discourse with Jesus Christ his companion on this day of crucifixion we noted first the the sobering inscription this morning this is the King of the Jews we noted that that is an accusation that's written and placed above the the person crucified it's often hung around the neck in the march to the crucifixion or carried before them on the way to the crucifixion and that in Matthews account it says that this is an ascription of his accusation or rather placed above his head was written an accusation against him this is Jesus the King of the Jews and we noted something of what that meant of course Christ not rightly accused and crucified but rather by lawless hands delivered up to the crucifixion we noted the particular title this morning this is the king of the Jews and we noted the madness of these unbelieving Jews putting to death their Messiah their king an instance of gross injustice the height of sin and depravity we noted the curstyn robber who is not pleading here for salvation truly but rather is joining with the soldiers joining with the mob joining with the rulers who are sneering and crying out if you are the Christ save yourself and us again not pleading for salvation but with his last breath into his last breath rather he is an unrepentant wretch marked by sin and marked by depravity this being most certainly something to marvel at this instance of the grossest sin and the grossest depravity a man upon the cross in the midst of crucifixion crying out for his companion mocking his companion in the hour of crucifixion to save himself again not a plead for salvation but rather mocking and sneering and reviling and then we noted the dying thief and we noted that the thief is saved on this day the thief this is a day of salvation an hour of salvation for the thief Luke doesn't include the account that both robbers were blaspheming him Matthew includes that in his account and mark I believe includes that in his account as well but in this occasion at this occasion the thief was saved it was a it was an hour of salvation for the thief when we noted the glory of that one who turned from a revealer to one who praises God and we noted that he exercises great faith and that the thief knew more then some or many may think just engaging in a little bit of review here but the thief knew more then some or many may think that he knew we noted that he acknowledges the necessity of the fear of God and rebukes the other robber for the lack of it do you not even fear God seeing you are under the same condemnation he receiving rightly and justly the condemnation of God for his sin he receiving the condemnation for his crimes against the state receiving justly that condemnation and nevertheless in the midst of the horrific nature of the crucifixion that he's going under uses his breath to revile this Savior rather than being like this dying and recognizing recognizing him as savior as mediator as the king of kings and Lord of lords he acknowledges that is the dying thief the saved thief he acknowledges sin and the due penalty for it he says and we indeed justly that is received condemnation we indeed justly are under condemnation for we receive the due reward of our deeds the thief acknowledges sin and the due penalty for it it's a wonderful thing when sinners acknowledge that isn't it when sinners come to a knowledge of their sin it's a it's a messy thing and it's a horrible thing to see a sinner engaged in sin not acknowledging and not owning that they are transgressing the law of Almighty God and sinning against God and men and here we have this thief once a revealer now a recognizer of the fact that he indeed stood in the crucifixion under the just condemnation of God in the due reward for his deeds he confesses the innocence of Christ their companion on the cross but this man has done nothing wrong we acknowledge that that's a recognition that the thief engages in here and that's a recognition an article of the Christian confession a necessary article of the Christian confession the innocence of Jesus Christ the Savior on this day of crucifixion he's not like these two criminals but rather he is an extraordinary man holy harmless and undefiled the only man that ever was wholly harmless and undefiled upon Calvary's cross a lamb without blemish and without spot and the thief confesses the lordship of Christ and pleads for remembrance these wonderful words Lord remember me when you come into your kingdom he confesses the lordship of Christ and we noted that it is only by the Spirit of God that one confesses Jesus as Lord first Corinthians 12:3 a clear evidence of the thief's salvation we have clear evidence leading up to this point but it's punctuated here by this confession of Jesus Christ as Lord it is by the Spirit of God that a sinner saved by grace confesses Jesus Christ as Lord and he pleads for remembrance remember me when you come into your kingdom while continuing on then with an examination of this Luke 23 episode we want to close the section of the dying thief by acknowledging this don't you love the faith of this dying thief if it is the opposite case that we have this marvel remember we said this morning that there are two types of marveling the one type of marveling is that behold what manner of love the father has bestowed on us that we can be called the children of God that positive and glorying that positive marveling in the mercies and in the graces and in the immutable love of God that sort of marveling and there is the other sort of marveling the marveling that we have to engage in here that that Galatians 1:6 type of negative marveling I marvel that you are so soon turning away from the gospel of grace to another gospel well if we marvel in that second fashion after this cursor dra burr who in the midst of crucifixion is looking upon the is looking upon the promised king is looking upon him and reviling him and despising him and mocking him well then we have to marvel likewise in that positive way after this dying thief who in the midst of his crucifixion in the midst of the pains and of the shame of the crucifixion is looking upon Jesus Christ a bloody mass upon Calvary's cross another one crucified his companion on this day of crucifixion he's looking upon him and he says Lord remember me when you come into your kingdom he exercises great faith remember we don't look at Kings this way that the human mind wants a king that is marked by that regalia the the reds and the whites and the blacks of a monarchical robe the you know the the polished scepter the throne all of the daiquiri of of a golden throne in a throne room and those sorts of things that's a king that the human mind goes after and is captured by but this king upon Calvary's cross a bloody massacre upon this Roman jibbety of execution that's not something that the human eye in Unruh generous II follows after and is captured by but this thief is captured this thief is captured by his king this bloody mess upon Calvary's cross the king of kings and Lord of lords put to death upon that Roman Jib it of execution but nevertheless the King but nevertheless the Saviour nevertheless the only mediator between God and man and this thief has that faith to look upon bloody this bloodied Christ and to rejoice in him to have faith in him to see in him his King of Kings his Lord of lords I think that speaks to us that in the in the bleakest of moments we are to have the faith of the thief we might not have the strongest faith but we can have the the faith of this thief where we might be battered and we might be beaten we might be smacked down and we can look with eyes of faith like this thief looked and looked up look upon one with eyes of faith whose glorious there's all together glorious whether he's in the garden crying on his hands and his knees before the father whether he's on the cross crying my god my god why hast thou forsaken me or whether he's exalted to the right hand of the Majesty on high can have that faith in the bleakest of moments at our christ is ours he's our King he's our Messiah he is our Lord you don't you love the faith of this this dying thief well the last point that we have in this particular the sermon that continues from this morning is the prince of life we noted the sobering inscription we noted the cursor drawbar we noted the dying thief and we have now then the prince of life because there is another one who speaks there is another one in that the narrative discloses speaks some words here the curse at robber spoke those words if you are the Christ save yourself and us the dying thief spoke those words of faith and now we have our precious Prince of life speaking these words in verse 43 and Jesus said to him assuredly I say to you today you will be with me in paradise before we move to an examination of those words though we need to remind ourselves of Christ's kingship here the things I neglected to speak about this morning was how in or where in do we discuss Christ as a king and Christ is first a king by virtue of his deity the Psalm 95 3 for the Lord is the great God and the great king above all gods a Melito of Sardis and this particular occasion speaks with respect to this aspect of the kingship of Christ and he says and thus he was lifted up upon the tree an inscription and an inscription was affixed identifying the one who had been murdered who was he it is painful to tell but it is more dreadful not to tell the one who hung the Earth in space is himself hanged the Lord is insulted God has been murdered the king of Israel has been destroyed by the right hand of Israel the Jesus is King by virtue of his deity again for the Lord is the great God and the great king above all gods as we cast our eyes upon a creation as we cast our eyes upon the stars the Sun the the moon we're casting our eyes upon the evidence of the Son of God who made all things in the space of six days and in all very good we're casting our eyes upon this king of creation this Lord who is the Great God and the Great King above all gods that language of Spurgeon draws our hearts to the one who has created all things and who is king by virtue of that creation in the expanse above us God flies as it were his starry flag to show the king is at home that's our God and that's our Christ and that's this one upon Calvary's cross who speaks these words assuredly I say to you today you will be with me in paradise the Christ is also king however by verse two of his office as mediator the song that we read this morning Psalm 2 speaks with regards to this turn there for a moment because I want you to notice something interesting that perhaps perhaps you haven't noticed before maybe you have and this is repetition but there's a particular there's language of King being used in Psalm 2 and we're going to notice the manner in which it is delivered by God notice in Psalm 2 beginning in verse 1 why do the nation's rage and the people plot a vain thing the kings of the earth set themselves and the rulers take counsel together against the Lord and against his anointed saying let us break their bonds in pieces and cast away their cords from us so just pause there for a moment and consider that these are the words spoken by the kings of the earth and the rulers who are setting themselves and taking counsel together against the Lord in His Christ these this is what they say let us break their bonds and pieces and cast away their cords from us now we read on he who sits in the heavens shall laugh the Lord shall hold them in derision then notice he shall speak to them in his wrath and distress them in his deep displeasure this is his response this is the response of God to their statement let us break their bonds and pieces and cast away their cords from us and notice what the response of God is yet I have set my king on my holy hill of Zion Christ is king with respect to his deity he is also king with respect to his office as mediator remember the words of Christ that we noted in his discourse with Pilate this morning it is for this reason that I was born and for this reason I have come into the world to be king and to make known his truth here we have this blessed reality that Christ as mediatorial king has been set up by God in opposition to the kings and the rulers of the earth who take counsel seeking to break in pieces in to to snip the cord of God's moral government and his sovereign reign over the fairs of men this is the Christ who back to Luke 23 who speaks these words to the thief assuredly I say to you today you will be with me in paradise secondly just before we we look at those words particularly spoken by Christ we want to notice this with regards to the inscription remember verse 38 an inscription also was written over him in letters of Greek Latin and Hebrew this is the King of the Jews and this is what we want to know Christ bore an inscription that we might have ours taken away your thought of thought of that Christ bore this inscription as you read this gospel account this gospel narrative concerning the crucifixion and we noted a little bit about the inscription this morning but Christ bore this inscription he bore the cross he bore this inscription that we might have ours taken away that's the language of Colossians 2 it's the language of Colossians 2 when we cast our eyes upon the text that we're reading here in Luke 23 and we land upon this inscription many things can be brought to mind but one of the things I submit that should be brought to mind is this very thing that we're rehearsing now that the inscription was born borne by Christ that we might have ours taken away notice in Colossians 2 at verse 13 and you being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh he has made alive together with him having forgiven you all trespasses having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us which was contrary to us and he has taken it out of the way having nailed it to the cross the many draw a a link many commentators will draw a link in their comments on that passage in in the gospel account of the inscription that Christ wore to this particular verse and we have in Christ upon the cross we have Christ upon the cross working out the salvation of men remember he's crucified for what reason is he crucified we noted from the human human vantage point this morning because of the hatred of the unbelieving Jews because of envy that passage in Matthew 27 18 but with respect to the grand design of God who according to his determined purpose and foreknowledge delivered Christ up to the cross we have Christ upon the cross working out the salvation of men we have this blessed truth having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us which was contrary to us he has taken it out of the way having nailed it to the cross Christ bore that inscription that we might have ours taken away we along with that thief availing of the fountain that was opened up that day for sin and for uncleanness well moving on then to these words assuredly I say to you today he will be with me in paradise we want to note a number of things here first we want to note that Christ communicates the certainty of the dying thief's salvation Christ communicates the certainty of the dying thief's salvation notice and Jesus said to him assuredly I say to you today you will be with me in paradise hopefully as Christians you love that word assuredly here no doubt the dying thief enjoyed loved cherish the word assuredly hear assuredly I say to you today you will be with me in paradise this assuredly brings with it the weight of divine promise immutable love and the perfection of the blood and righteousness of Christ I just want to read a portion of our confession of faith for a moment because on this particular topic the assuredly that Christ speaks here we have a portion of the confession speaking on the perseverance of the saints and talking about the stuff of assuredly and the stuff of which I just spoke the divine promise the immutable love of God and the perfection of the blood and righteousness of Christ notice paragraph 2 of chapter 17 of our confession of faith the perseverance speaking of the perseverance of the saints this perseverance of the saints depends not upon their own free will but but upon the immutability of the decree of election flowing from the free and unchangeable love of God the Father upon the efficacy of the merit and intercession of Jesus Christ and union with him the oath of God the abiding of his spirit and the seed of God within them and the nature of the covenant of grace from all which arise athough the certainty and infallibility thereof I would submit that it's the stuff of that that is under girding Christ's assuredly that he renders from the cross to this dying thief all of that blessed reality all of that divine stuff all of that glorious theology undergirds the assuredly that the thief hears that Christ speaks to him let's engage in a little bit of an exploration of this particular assuredly first off as we've already said divine promise I want you to turn with the with me to a passage in Ezekiel for a moment just to see this we're speaking in Ezekiel 36 turn there with me we're talking about this assuredly exploring this assuredly and speaking that it comes with or it brings with it this language of Christ the weight of divine promise notice in Ezekiel 36 beginning at verse 22 we need to understand something here with regards to the new covenant promise the new covenant realities there would be an inauguration of a new covenant there would be a bringing in of blessed New Covenant realities and there's a something of an announcement of that truth here by the prophet Ezekiel notice Ezekiel 36 beginning in verse 22 therefore say to the house of Israel thus says the Lord God I do not do this for your sake o house of Israel but for my holy name's sake which you have profaned among the nations wherever you went and I will sanctify my great name which has been profaned among the nations which you have profaned in their midst and the nations shall know that I am the Lord says the Lord God when I am hallowed in you before their eyes for I will take you from among the nations gather you out of all countries and bring you into your own land then I will sprinkle clean water on you and you shall be clean I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh I will put my spirit within you and cause you to walk in my statutes and you will keep my judgments and do them don't you like this divine promise hopefully you do as Christians you like this divine promise made by the prophet made by God to the house of Israel through the prophet and notice the language here this glorious language that is repeated throughout this promise it's the language of assuredly it's the language as we read here I will I will take you I will sprinkle clean water on you I will cleanse you I will give you a new heart I will take the heart of stone out I will put my spirit within you this repeated language of I will if there was ever any doubt and there shouldn't be but if there was ever any doubt that salvation is solely and alone from first to last midst and throughout of the triune God who saves without a helper we arrive at this task and any doubt is - - at this text and any doubt is dashed to pieces as we have the I wills of divine promise being made here by our great God and we have to see that the assuredly of Christ is undergirded by the stuff of divine promise like this the thief himself had clean water sprinkled on him he was clean he was cleansed from all his filthiness and from all his idols he was given a new heart a new spirit was put within him the heart of stone was taken out of his flesh and a heart of flesh was given a spirit was put within him and he was caused by the fine power to walk in the statutes of God even in that 11th hour the dying thief was the Blessed recipient of these promises that assuredly of Christ arrests upon divine promise and also we have the glorious reality of immutable love immutable love you can turn with me to John 10 I've often noted as I've had occasion to note an opportunity to note that the stuff of John 10 is the stuff that ought to be one of those addresses of whole this is something that a preacher says can say about almost any text I guess sometimes but it's one of those texts that the Christian ought to have near and dear to his heart because it speaks with regards to the immutable love that in inviolable grip of immutable love that Christ that God has upon his people and notice with respect to the stuff of assuredly that Jesus speaks to his companion on this day of crucifixion notice first in John 10 beginning in verse 14 I am The Good Shepherd and I know my sheep and am known by my own and the father knows me even so as the father knows me even so I know the father and I lay down my life for the Sheep and other sheep I have which are not of this fold them also I must bring and they will hear my voice and there will be one flock and one Shepherd now move to verse 22 now it was the feast of dedication in Jerusalem and it was winter Jesus walked in the temple in Solomon's porch then the Jews surrounded him and said to him how long do you keep us in doubt if you are the Christ tell us plainly jesus answered them I told you and you do not believe the works that I do in my father's name they bear witness of me but you do not believe because you are not of my sheep as I said to you my sheep hear my voice and I know them and they follow me and I give them eternal life and they shall never perish neither shall anyone snatch them out of my hand my father who has given them to me is greater than all and no one is able to snatch them out of my father's hand I and my father our one if you're ever if you're ever doubting your your assurance and I think as a Christian if you're doubting your assurance you're in you're in a good place because that means your your seeking after God the the unrighteous the wicked don't seek after God if you're struggling in your assurance it's a good struggle but if you're struggling in your assurance the text that you ought to go to is a place like it you know you see when you're struggling with your assurance you don't look with one eye on on God and with one eye on yourself trying to find the motions of the Spirit and your own perfection and your own deeds and in your own doing before God you look with both eyes of faith upon God and see in him your assurance and see in Christ the risen and exalted King your assurance we are to come to text like this and to be girded up in in our assurance we come to places like this and we see the stuff of assuredly you see it's stuff like this that undergirded those words given by Christ to the dying thief assuredly I say to you today you will be with me in paradise why because I give them eternal life and they shall never perish neither shall any one snatch them out of my hand blessed inviolable grip that Christ has upon his people that blessed inviolable grip that the father has upon his people that blessed inviolable grip that the triune God has upon his people and the dying thief receives these words assuredly and undergirding that assuredly is the stuff of this immutable love also behind the stuff of assuredly is the perfection of the blood and righteousness of Jesus Christ we can think of verses can't we speak to the assuredly in this regard the announcement to Mary and Joseph the the natal announcement with regards to Christ you will call his name Jesus for he will save his people from their sins there's assuredly all over that passage he will save his people from their sins when Christ himself speaks were from his own lips such as I did not come to come to be served but to serve and to give my life a ransom for many or the son of man did not come to be served but to give his life a ransom for many did I say that right did not come to be served but to serve and to give his life a ransom for many there's assuredly all over that from the lips of our Savior himself to needy sinners to guilty sinners to Saints he came to save he came to save and to save perfectly he came to ransom a multitude which no man can number and he does he if he came to do it if the Son of God comes to engage in a task make no mistake he's going to execute to perfection and that's what Jesus Christ our precious Savior does when he comes to give his life a ransom for many when he comes not to be served but to serve and to do that great act of redemption to execute the plan of salvation he comes and he does it perfectly and the thief was a blessed yet undeserved beneficiary of that perfection we are the undeserved and blessed beneficiaries of that perfection and that undergirds the assuredly that is spoken to the thief on that glorious day and I would want to say that matthew 26:26 it kind of bookends with the promise of the new covenant that we read in ezekiel 26 but in matthew 26:26 drink from it all of you r-27 drink from it all of you for this is my blood of the new covenant which is shed for many for the remission of sins the perfection of the blood and righteousness of Christ you see this cup of the New Covenant or this blood rather of the new covenant which is shed for many is not shed in vain this scene that we're reading about is not a scene of vanity it is not a scene full of any emptiness or lack but rather it is a scene full of the wisdom and of the power of God Christ upon the cross working out the salvation of sinners is not an exercise of vanity is it as an exercise of absolute success and perfection and Christ speaks here prior to his crucifixion on the night in which he was betrayed he engages in the institution of this Lord's Supper and he promises that the new covenant which had been promised by divine promise the stuff of assured divine promise is that new covenant which would be ratified in his own blood and that perfectly this is my blood of the new covenant which is shed for many for the remission of sins but finding our way back to Luke 23 when the thief is looking upon his Savior remember we we ought not to engage in any vain imaginings as we're engaging in this exercise we look with eyes of faith and we hear that by the preaching of the word it is as if Christ is crucified before our very eyes but the thief looked upon the Savior bleeding shedding the blood of the New Covenant is this assuredly I say to you today you will be with me in paradise is delivered I wonder if you know if we well maybe we ought not to engage in a vain wandering but we can say this that the thief was looking upon the blood being shed by the rata fire of the New Covenant and he had faith in Him he had faith in that blessed king that blessed mediator that blessed Redeemer secondly Christ brings words of highest comfort to the dying thief now you might say well that's pretty much the same thing or that's related but wait a minute we moved beyond the assuredly to the stuff of that which follows I say to you today you will be with me in paradise he brings the words of highest comfort to the dying thief and these are we would want to say mediatorial words rich with theology and enriched with gospel today you will be with me in paradise Cyril of Jerusalem simply says Adam by the tree fell away this is this is Cyril of Jerusalem remember we noted this morning that Cyril SPO preached this sermon at the site where that we're reading about now he preached a sermon there to his congregation and we noted this morning in a different quote that he interviews the thief and he interviews the thief by saying what power o robber led thee to the light what heavenly instructor advised you to worship this despised man this your companion on the cross and the thief answers o light eternal which gives light to them who lives in darkness well Cyril here is speaking to the thief and he says these simple words with regards to this particular statement today you will be with me in paradise and he says Adam by the tree fell away thou by the tree art brought into paradise isn't that wonderful Adam by the tree speaking to the dying thief as if he's speaking as Christ to the dining thief Adam by the tree fell away thou by the tree art brought into paradise there's a rich theology in this statement today you will be with me in paradise Adam the thrust by his transgression man into sin and depravity the incurring of the wrath and condemnation of God because of sin original sin and the reality that we transgress God's law each and every day Adam by the tree fell away and thrust all of his subsequent progeny into sin and condemnation the power of sin the condemnation and forehead but Christ the second Adam the last Adam by him and by a tree we are brought into paradise Adam lost the goods Christ restores the goods Adam lost the goods Christ restores them in a much more excellent way and he bears in this scene in this episode he bears the curse incurred by the first Adam he secures the salvation of a multitude which no man can number one more time Adam by the tree fell away thou by the tree art into paradise by the cross you're brought into paradise the dying thief and all who have faith in him are brought into paradise by virtue of Jesus Christ our precious Savior the second or the last the last Adam by a tree was sin introduced and from a tree our sins taken away these glorious words today you will be with me in paradise and I think this brings to the fore some application that we can hopefully appreciate as Christians 2,000 years removed from this particular episode that's a statement I I often make and hopefully you appreciate the the statement 2000 years removed for the reason I say that often is because we have the same Christ we have the same gospel we have the same glorious God we're 2,000 years removed from this particular occasion but we have this same king this same mediator this same Christ these words are no more strange to us but rather are they are no less familiar to us we might say than they were to the thief in a particular way assuredly I say to you today you will will be with me in paradise now I don't mean by that to say you are meeting your hour of death soon that's not what I'm saying but I'm saying the certainty in the assuredness of salvation is ours and the truth that paradise is ours it's the same truth for the thief and for us in a particular application first with regards to assuredly is the assurance of our salvation and might have mentioned that already but this thief was assured of his salvation by the Lord Jesus Christ assuredly he said to the thief today you will be with me in paradise we have the same assurance as this dying thief blessed assurance Jesus is mine oh what a foretaste of glory divine we have the certainty of salvation in Jesus Christ our Savior John wrote to the recipients of his first letter in this particular manner I write to you so that you might know that you have eternal life that's for us as well we preach to you so that you might know that you have eternal life in Jesus Christ your savior if you believe in him you have eternal life in him and it can never be taken away we read about the Jesus of inviolable Grips he has an inviolable grip upon us in his sovereign and his glorious mediatorial power he has an inviolable grip upon your heart and we can be certain of our salvation just it just jumping into mind there's another section of our confession and hopefully you find this a blessing as well because there can be times where we may doubt perhaps you've fallen in and put into a particular pattern of sin perhaps perhaps you know you've been struggling with a particular sin or you're struggling with something in your walk with Christ there are words of comfort undergirded by scriptural testimony that come from the confession if anybody ever tells you that the confession of faith is impractical you can tell them that they're wrong because it's it's immensely practical and I want you to hear these words with regards to assurance with regards to what we're rehearsing in the words of Christ of the thief assuredly I say to you notice in chapter 18 in paragraph 4 this is the chapter on assurance true believers may have the assurance of their salvation diverse ways shaken kids that just means many ways shaken we might have our assurance of salvation shaken in many ways diminished and intermitted as by negligence in preserving of it by falling into some special sin which wound us the conscious and grieveth the spirit by some sudden or vehement temptation by God's withdrawing the light of his countenance and suffering even such as fear him to walk in darkness and to have no light yet are they never destitute of the seed of God and life of faith that love of God or that love of Christ and the brethren that sincerity of heart and conscious a conscience of duty out of which by the operation of the spirit this assurance may in due time be revived and by the which in the meantime they are preserved from utter despair isn't that glorious that's that you see that's the assurance that we have in Christ Jesus our Lord we have our assurance diverse ways shaken we fall under this removal of the light of his countenance we suffer even such as fear or we suffer even such as fear him to walk in darkness and all that sort of thing but let it be known that we are never destitute of the seed of God and life of faith Christ the one who spoke assuredly to the dying thief is the one who speaks assuredly to each and every one of you who are his and you see the assurance does not rest upon our own free will the assurance does not rest upon our own deeds done in holiness of heart the assurance rests upon divine promise immutable love and the perfection of the blood and righteousness of Jesus Christ secondly with this language of today you will be with me in paradise a particular application remember that the words of the Savior to the dying thief are also words to us we have paradise to look forward to paradise is ours now it is an inheritance undefiled reserved in heaven for us it's the language of first Peter we have an inheritance that is undefiled reserved in heaven for us were kept by the power of God unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last day we have that blessed inheritance awaiting us but this particular language is also for you in the manner with risk or in a manner with respect to family members who have perhaps died in the Lord or family members that may be in that 11th hour who are in Christ there's great comfort for you here great comfort for you in assurance but comfort as well if you've lost a family member who is in Christ if perhaps there is the prospect of losing one who is in Christ you need to know that those were are true for them assuredly today who will be with me in paradise a blessed language of Christ - the thief is language for your comfort in those instances no doubt it was language for their comfort in that 11th hour but for you as well who remain that's comfort of comforts I love that that language of Rutherford they are not lost to us who are found in Christ they are not lost to us who are found in Christ they have not gone away but they've gone before like unto a star which passing out of view does not fade away but shines in another hemisphere there with their Savior there with their Christ there with this one who upon Calvary's cross spoke those blessed words to the thief assuredly I say to you today you will be with me in paradise for you yourselves if you are believing these are words for you and if you are presently unbelieving Cyril of Jerusalem spoke these words as well in the same sermon he said for if thou shalt believe that Jesus Christ is Lord and that God raised him from the dead thou shalt be saved and shalt be transported into paradise by him who brought in thither the robber and doubt not whether it is possible for he who on this sacred Golgotha saved the robber after one single hour of belief the same shall save thee also on thy believing believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved some of the final words from preachers and in almost every almost every sermon this glorious Savior upon Calvary's cross who spoke those words assuredly I say to you today you will be with me in paradise as I mentioned this morning you want those words to be your words you don't want the words delivered to that cursor draw or no doubt to be your words don't be the curse of robber don't be the one who mocks and reviles don't be the one who rejects this Christ don't be the one who puts the hand up to this Christ who in Unruh generous II in an unbelief rejects the king of kings and Lord of lords the blessed one the glorious one the prince of life but rather believe on the Lord Jesus Christ God is holy God is glorious God is majestic he will punish sin it is just for him to do so all sin deserves punishment both in this life and that which is to come condemnation everlasting damnation all have sinned and have fallen short of the glory of God yet there is one who spoke words of glory to a thief one who is the maker of all things one who is the upholder of all things one who is the sustainer of all things who took to himself our nature for man's Redemption and recovery don't cast him off but own him and those words will be yours assuredly paradise will be yours let us pray God we thank you for this time in your word we rejoice in your truth we thank you for this narrative account that we've been able to examine however briefly we rejoice in Jesus Christ our Savior that one who spoke good things to the thief we rejoice in the faith that you have given to that thief and the faith that you've given to us as we can identify no doubt with this thief a sinner saved by grace and we do pray that you'd cause us to rejoice in your grace to sing the praises of your amazing and victorious grace as we walk each day to reflect with great joy upon that as we go through dark seasons might you impress upon us the glory of Christ and the glory of your grace and might you always lift us up out of those times and we do pray Lord God that you would once again go with us into this week we pray Lord God that you would bless us as we seek to live in a crooked and perverse generation that we would be able to hold forth your word of truth that we'd be able to shine as lights we do pray Lord God even now because it's possible only with you that you would cause each and every mouth on this place to give honor and praise to Christ that they would worship him that they would cry out hallelujah what a savior and that each soul leaving these two doors would be safely in Christ not having their own righteousness which is from the law but that righteousness which is from God through faith in Christ do go with us now and might you be honored and glorified in Christ's precious name Amen we you