You're turning your Bibles to Luke chapter 23. Luke chapter 23. Thought it would be good for us to continue with that theme of the Savior's sayings from the cross. Tonight, we'll look at the second saying from the cross.
When our Lord Jesus says to the thief, Assuredly, I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise. Well, I'll just pick up reading in Luke chapter 23, beginning in verse 26. Now, as they led him away, 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, and to 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." And an inscription was also 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, blasphemed 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.
Opening Prayer
Well, let us pray. Father, thank you for this written word. We thank you that you have given us the Bible, that you have given us this record of your redemptive work. We thank you for our Lord Jesus Christ.
And even in his own eleventh hour, we see his mercy and his grace in the salvation of a sinner. We just ask that you would encourage our hearts now, that you would cause our minds to go to the cross, cause our minds to reflect upon this great, great event in your world. And we pray that we would just derive much comfort and much benefit of considering again the gospel of Jesus Christ our Lord. And it's in his blessed name that we pray.
Amen. Well, as I said,
Introduction
this is the second saying from the cross in Luke's gospel here, specifically verse 43. Assuredly, I say to you, Today you will be with me in paradise. It's a wonderful account of the mercy of God, the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. As I mentioned, it is the 11th hour for him.
When we use that terminology, the 11th hour, that time right before we're about to die. Even to the end, the Lord Jesus manifests His graciousness in the salvation of this particular man.
The Conversion of the Thief
Now, I want to consider two things this evening. First, the conversion of the thief, and secondly, the response of the Savior. The conversion of the thief and the response of the Savior. As I said, it's the eleventh hour for the Lord Jesus, but it's also the eleventh hour for this thief. on the cross.
Notice in verse 32, there were also two others, criminals, led with him to be put to death. In Matthew and in Mark, those gospel writers tell us that both of these men continued to revile the Lord Jesus Christ. The tense of the verb indicates it wasn't just a one-time thing. While he is being mocked by the chief priests, while he is being mocked by the persons on the ground looking up at the crosses, he is being simultaneously mocked by either thief on both sides, blaspheming him, saying vicious and unkind things.
So this man hanging on the cross began the day with a death sentence. He's put up on this cross and initially he is blaspheming the Lord. But there is a decisive change that takes place in this man as a result. of having met the Lord Jesus Christ. Albert Barnes makes this statement concerning this time frame or this eleventh hour.
He says, this was a case of repentance in the last hour, the trying hour of death. And it has been remarked that one was brought to repentance there to show that no one should despair on a dying bed. In other words, we ought never to despair. While there is breath in someone's lungs, they are, by God's grace, able to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.
But Barnes does add this. He says, and but one that none should be presumptuous and delay repentance to that awful moment. So there is one so that we don't despair. But there is but one so that we don't grow presumptuous and say, well, I'll just put that off until my dying day.
I'll just put that off until my deathbed. Or you might be a child or a young person and you say, you know, Christianity makes sense. And this whole idea of religion does make sense. But, you know, in my childhood or in my young or in my teenage years, I kind of want to just get to do what I want to do.
So I'm going to put off this whole idea of repentance until a more convenient time. Again, listen to Barnes, and but one that none should be presumptuous and delay repentance to that awful moment. Do not delay. When you hear the gospel, when you hear of Jesus Christ, the response ought to be to believe what God has said concerning His Son.
This is the emphasis everywhere in the Bible. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved. It is not a good place to live outside of Christ. The Bible says that when you are outside of Christ, you are under the wrath of God.
Currently, abidingly, always, constantly. You can't escape it, except for fleeing to Christ by grace alone. through faith alone in him alone. So that's sort of the larger context. We find the thieves on either side of the Lord Jesus.
And then, as I said, something happens to this one thief. Notice the glorious change. Going to just take these observations as the text presents them.
Concern for Others and God's Glory
Notice first that he manifests concern for others. He manifests concern for others. In this case, he manifests concern for his brother, Thief. He manifests, as well, concern for the glory and dignity of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Notice, in verse 39, that one of the criminals who were hanged blasphemed him, saying, If you are the Christ, save yourself and us. Similar to what was going on among the people at the foot of the cross. If he is the Christ, let him save himself. Sort of making fun of him, making sport, mocking the Savior while he hung upon that cross.
Isn't it interesting? Isn't it intriguing that the very thing they're chiding him about, he's actually in the process of doing? He saved others, he needs to save himself. Well, he is currently on the cross saving this thief, but as well he's saving all that the Father has given him.
Notice in verse 40, the other answering rebuked him saying, do you not even fear God seeing you're under the same condemnation? He begins to rebuke him. He doesn't want him to blaspheme the glory of the Lord Jesus. He doesn't want him to say ill things.
And then that leads us, secondly, to see what happened in this thief's heart.
Fear of God's Judgment
He fears God's judgment. This question that he asks this other thief, do you not even fear God? The magistrate was going to execute them. The magistrate had dropped the gavel.
It was time to pay up in terms of justice. And this man knew the fear of the Lord. He understood all too well in this eleventh hour that he was going to leave this earth and be in the presence of God. It seemed a no-brainer to him.
Do you not even fear God? Has that not even propped up on you yet? Have you ever met people like that, that are so engaged in wickedness, so engaged in lawlessness and ungodliness and unrighteousness? We could ask them, do you not even fear God?
You have no fear of physical consequences? You have no fear of the police? You have no fear of destroying a family? And you have no fear of God whatsoever?
You see, something happened to this thief where he's starting to think properly now. Madness no longer controls him. Madness no longer dominates his mind. That's what we have to conclude when we see people in certain positions living as if there is no God, living in abject rebellion against God, and never manifesting this fear of God.
And then notice,
Owning Guilt for Sin
thirdly, he owns his own guilt for his sin. He says, do you not even fear God, seeing you are under the same condemnation? And we indeed justly That's always a good sign in a sinner. That's always the mark that God is at work in a sinner.
Remember that man or two men went to the temple to pray. The publican basically prayed to himself and applauded himself that he was not like other men. He applauded himself that he tied, that he fasted twice a week, that he was a great and upright man. He applauded himself that he was not like unjust men.
He was not like adulterers. He was not like this tax collector standing next to him. And the tax collector rather manifests something of this understanding of owning his own guilt. He says, God be merciful to me, the sinner.
In terms of his admission, in terms of his realization, he sees himself before a thrice holy God, and he doesn't say, look at what good things I've done, look at my fasting, look at my non-adultery, look at my this, and please accept this if you will. When a man or a woman or a boy or girl comes face to face with the living and the true God, the proper response, the biblical response, is not to offer up one's works and say, Lord, please approve of these things. The proper response is, God, be merciful to me, the sinner. This man was too pathetic to even look up into heaven.
He could only beat his breasts. And we see the same thing manifested here in this particular scene. It's interesting. He says, and we indeed justly, for we receive the due reward of our deeds.
He is called a robber in Matthew's gospel and in Mark's gospel. Here he's identified, of course, as a criminal. But as well, in Mark 15 at verse 7, it says, And there was one named Barabbas who was chained with his fellow rebels. They had committed murder in the rebellion.
He's also referred to as a notorious prisoner. Now, I hope you see the connection here. Barabbas and his two compadres were going to be crucified on this particular day. These men on either side of the Lord Jesus Christ were partners of Barabbas.
They were notorious men. They were robbers. They were guilty of the crime of murder. Now, remember, the crowd said, away with Jesus, away with Jesus.
And when Pilate says, what do you want? What do you want with Barabbas? Oh, give us Barabbas, but send Jesus to the cross. There were going to be three crucifixions that day.
But what happened is Barabbas is absented from this. Jesus takes his place. These two men on either side of him are wretched rebels against God and against the Roman state. You need to remember that crucifixion was not the common form of execution.
It was saved or spared for the most notorious criminals in the empire. And so these men were vicious, vile offenders. And the fact that he owns this and he acknowledges his guilt is a blessed mark of God's work in his heart. You know how you know when you're serious about Jesus when you don't keep blaming everybody else for your sin.
Well, it wasn't me. Or it was me because of this. We're all attorneys, aren't we? We all have the facility of a lawyer when it comes to these matters.
Instead of owning our guilt, instead of owning our sin, instead of bowing our head and pounding our breasts and saying, God, be merciful to me, the sinner. We work very hard. We try desperately to bury, to cover, to conceal our sin. We are just like Adam and Eve. who try to hide in the midst of the trees of the garden as if the sovereign God who put them there can't see them, and then they make fig leaves to cover themselves as if somehow God's all-searching eye will not see them.
We all try desperately to sew fig leaves together to try to shield ourselves, to try to hide ourselves, when the biblical response is, God be merciful to me, the sinner. This man owns his guilt for sin. If you have never done that, if you have never embraced the reality that you were a sinner, if you have never come to grips with that biblical reality and that truth, you need to do so. You need to quit arguing in your heart of hearts.
You need to quit complaining and say, every time I go there, he tells me what a sinner I am. We need to understand what the malady is. We need to understand what the illness or the sickness or the issue is before we can ever fix it. And the good news of the gospel is that Jesus Christ came sinners to save.
So when we understand this sin, when we understand this guilt, when we understand our abominable activity, we flee to Christ for remission and for that righteousness we spoke of this morning. This man understands something of his own guilt for sin. We need to learn from this, even as Christians. We always want to pass the buck.
I mean, when you look at the Bible, it's the history of God's redemptive work, right? And as God is in the business of redeeming, what is man in the business of doing? Sinning. Providing the necessity for redemption.
Going back to the garden, what does Adam do when God calls him on his sin? I know you all know this. First of all, he blames God for the predicament. I mean, that's just terrible, isn't it?
You say, oh, Adam, how could you do that? We do that, don't we? The woman whom you gave me. What's the implication staring us in the face?
God, if you hadn't put that woman here, I'd be upright and holy. We still do that. If you hadn't given me this husband, or you hadn't given me this wife, or you hadn't given me this kid, or you hadn't given me this parent, or you hadn't put me in this situation, or you hadn't made me poor, or you hadn't made me rich, I would be a holy, upright specimen of a human being. I would have sunshine always hanging around my head and everybody would see just how beautiful I am.
We pass the buck. We don't own our sin. We don't hold on or confess it rather and forsake it and find mercy from God. The woman whom you gave me.
But in that admission, he's also throwing a woman under the bus. It's her fault. She shouldn't have done that. She shouldn't have given me that fruit.
Here's the man that's supposed to protect his wife, and he's saying, look, it's her fault that we're in this predicament. So the next player on the scene, you think, oh, she's going to be more honest. I mean, women just have a natural disposition toward honesty. Oh, really?
What did she do? It was the serpent. You see, they keep passing the buck. This is why ultimately Jesus came to die, because we don't own our sin, we don't do what we're supposed to do, and we need the Savior to come and redeem us from our ungodliness.
This man manifests this, owns his guilt for sin. Notice,
Confessing Christ's Holiness
fourthly, he confesses the holiness of Christ. He confesses the holiness of Christ. And we indeed justly, verse 41, for we receive the due reward of our deeds, But this man has done nothing wrong. Sounds like Pilate.
I find no guilt in him. He's done nothing wrong. Why would you blaspheme this man? We are being condemned justly.
We're notorious prisoners. We're robbers. We're murderers. We deserve all that the Roman state and the wrath of God has for us.
But not this man. This man's upright. This man's pure. This man's holy.
This man's good. This man's godly. He confesses here the holiness of Jesus Christ. He had witnessed the Savior not only not revile, But he actually prays, Father, forgive them, for they know not what they're doing.
I mean, here on the cross, the Lord Jesus is manifesting everything you and I wouldn't. Here on the cross, the Lord Jesus is manifesting that excellence and that grace and that mercy that we know him for. And then notice,
Calling Upon Christ as Lord
fifthly, he calls upon the Lord Jesus. Verse 42, then he said to Jesus, Lord, Remember me when you come into your kingdom. I just want to paint this context a little bit so we can appreciate what Calvin says. Calvin says, Lord, remember me.
I know not that since the creation of the world there ever was a more remarkable and striking example of faith. Why would Calvin say that? Who's hanging on the cross next to this thief? A bloodied, battered, suffering, crucified man.
Right? You don't normally look for help in one who's in a similar circumstance or probably even a worse circumstance based on the scourgings that our Lord Jesus Christ received. He is broken, bruised. He is beaten.
He is bloody. He has all these things. He has witnessed the crowd say, crucify Him, crucify Him. J.C.
Ryle says this in his sermon, Christ's Greatest Trophy. He says, He only saw our Lord in agony and in weakness, in suffering and in pain. This wasn't one of the disciples who saw Jesus multiply the fish and the loaves. This wasn't one of the disciples who watched Jesus walk on the water.
This wasn't one of the disciples who saw Jesus at the graveside of Lazarus say, Lazarus come forth and Lazarus actually does. I mean, in a sense, brethren, it's easier to believe in such a man that is doing these miraculous things, right? Isn't it? When you see somebody tell a corpse to get out of their grave and to walk forth, that must elicit something in you of this man's reliable.
He has power. This man wasn't like the disciples who saw Jesus hush the winds and hush the waves into a calm. This man looked at a bloodied, beaten, crucified man. Go back to Ryle.
He only saw our Lord in agony and in weakness, in suffering and in pain. He saw him undergoing dishonorable punishment, deserted, mocked, despised, a blaspheme. He saw no scepter, no royal crown, no outward dominion, no glory, no power, no signs of might. And yet the dying thief believed and looked forward to Christ's kingdom.
That's amazing, isn't it? What a beautiful statement. Lord, remember me when you come into your kingdom. He's bloodied and beaten.
He's bruised. Again, he's seen the crowd and the way that they're reviling, the way they're treating him. He's heard Jerusalem sinners say, away with him, away with him, crucify him. And yet he's able to look past all of that.
I had this conversation with somebody recently about buying a house. We bought a house in California once. It was a foreclosure. I really hesitate to say it was a Freddie Mac.
I apologize for that. Steve's back there saying, we're getting rid of this guy. This was before I was in the know, and not that I'm that much in the know now. But it was this repossessed, a foreclosed on house.
So the realtor called and said, you need to come and look at this house. Did your price range, everything great? So we looked at it, and it was a dump. Generally speaking, when people are getting foreclosed on, they don't maintain their lawns.
They don't keep fresh paint on the walls. They don't do nice things to keep the house in order. They know they have to leave, so they usually ruin the place. The realtor said, look past that.
Look past that disrepair. Look past the obvious scuffs and the problems, because the federal government's going to renovate this for you and make it livable and all that sort of thing. This man looked past the blood. He looked past the shame.
He looked past all those things. Something I meant to highlight this morning in our reading in John chapter 19. Something Spurgeon alerted me to. Something that I should have known.
But remember what they did with Jesus' garments? They divided them. They cast lots for them. Spurgeon says our painters usually put a cloth around the Lord Jesus when they depict him.
He was naked on that cross. He was hung naked on that cross. This thief is looking at this man and he calls him Lord. I think you can appreciate now when John Calvin says, I know not that since the creation of the world, there was ever a more remarkable and striking example of faith.
He believed the soul continues after physical death. Lord, remember me when you come in your kingdom. He knew he was going to die physically, but he knew there was an afterlife. He knew there was an eternity.
And he wants Jesus to fetch him. He wants Jesus to bring him into that place. He sees Jesus as a Lord who possesses a kingdom. Again, if he had a crown on, if he was holding a scepter, if he was commanding troops, if he wasn't bloodied, if he wasn't beaten, if he wasn't suffering under the wrath of God, if he wasn't being scoffed at and mocked at by ungodly men, it might be a little bit easier to depict him in this role.
But this man with the eye of faith looks past the suffering Savior to see the reigning Lord and King. That's what's going on here. He asks to be remembered. What does this mean?
He sees there's mercy to be had in this one. He sees there's grace to be had. You see, at this point, this thief can't say, you know, I've been a pretty good guy. He can't marshal forward any sort of semblance of good works at this point.
No, he casts himself fully and solely upon sovereign grace and the mercy of Christ. Lord, remember me simply means have mercy on me. Do not allow me to suffer perdition in hell. He sees with the physical eye a suffering Savior.
He sees with the eye of faith a sovereign Lord. Commentator Marshall says, Jesus himself is revealed as Savior even while dying for the outcast and criminal who turns to him in faith. That's the conversion of the thief.
The Response of the Savior
Notice, secondly, the response of the Savior.
Christ the Willing Savior
He is first willing, isn't he? We have a willing Savior, a willing Savior. And Jesus said to him, he doesn't say, leave me alone, I got my own problems here in my eleventh hour. I'm bearing the burden of sin.
I'm suffering under the wrath of God. No, Jesus directs attention to this particular man. Jesus says to him, the suffering Savior, the mocked at Lord, the agonizing son of man. Even during the agony of the cross, just prior to the sixth hour, when darkness would come upon the land, Jesus is willing to say to the uttermost, all those that come to God through him.
He doesn't rebuff him. He doesn't refuse him. He doesn't reject him. But rather, Jesus is a willing Savior.
Venture on him. Venture wholly, the hymn writer says.
Christ the Able Savior
Secondly, he is an able Savior. So it wouldn't do any good if Jesus could say, yeah, I'd like to help you out here. I'd really like to rescue you if I could, but I just don't have that power. I don't have that authority.
I'm honored that you're able to look past the blood, and look past the shame and the suffering, and you actually think that I'm able to remember you, but I just don't possess such power. No, Jesus shows that not only is He a willing Savior, but He is an able Savior. Verse 43 highlights this. Assuredly, I say to you.
That's the Amen of God. That is the truly, the verily, verily I say to you. Today you will be with me in paradise. You see, Jesus didn't spend three physical days in hell.
Jesus says, today you will be with me in paradise. Jesus suffered hell on the cross. That's where God abandoned him. That's where he felt the wrath and fury of God.
And it's in that context and in that matrix, Jesus says, I thirst. Hell was tasted. Hell was swallowed up by the Savior on the cross. When he dies, he commits his spirit into the hand of his father.
He is able to ensure to this man that this very day, you will be with me in paradise. It's beautiful. It's glorious. In verse 35, it says that the people and the rulers sneered about Jesus' role as Savior.
And right before their unbelieving eyes, he's saving. It's great, isn't it? They're all saying, he, he, he, he, whining at the foot of the cross. And Jesus is in the act of salvation right before their eyes.
Absolutely incredible and beautiful. So he is a willing and able and a glorious savior. His last companion before his death was a notorious prisoner, a robber and a murderer. There's hope in the gospel for sinners, isn't there?
That's why we say he's a real savior for real sinners. You may be the worst guy you've ever met. Christ is more powerful. You may have rejected God.
You may have despised his law. You may have engaged in patterns of sin and in wickedness. Come to the Savior. He's glorious.
He's wondrous. He's awesome. He's all powerful. Later on in the book of Acts, we see his archenemy, Saul of Tarsus, converted.
Beautiful thing. Stephen prays just like Jesus prayed, didn't he? Jesus says, Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do. What does Stephen pray?
Lord, do not charge them with this sin. God heard that prayer, and a chapter later, well, however much time that chapter covered, God saves, or Christ comes to Solitarsis on the road, and he saves him. He's a notorious sinner as well. You know, when we read of Paul the Apostle and we just marvel, he's our hero, he's our wonderful, he's the patron saint of the Reformed faith, right?
I'm just speaking as a fool here. Do you remember what Paul was before that? Paul tried to destroy the church. Paul had a zeal and a rage bent on exterminating the people of God, destroying the very church itself.
What happens? This willing, able, glorious Savior conquers him. You see, when you're out in the world and you're sharing the gospel and you're talking to people, you need to have that confidence. You need to have that assurance.
You need to have that realization and that knowledge that Christ saves some pretty bad folk. Especially when you consider yourself, right? And then notice this statement here. Verse 43, Jesus said to him, Assuredly, I say to you today, you will be with me in paradise.
Paradise is paradise because Jesus is there. You will be with me. That's what paradise is all about. It's not the streets paved with gold.
It's not the pearly gates. It's not, you know, all those, you know, splendorous things that we'll see there. Paradise, the new Jerusalem, the new heavens and the new earth, they luster, they shine because Emmanuel is there. That's what makes heaven heaven.
It's Jesus Christ, the Lord. Well, in conclusion, we learn a lesson about the Savior. He is willing, able and glorious in the salvation of sinners. Remember that he's Lord in the womb.
When Mary and Elizabeth come together, Elizabeth says, how is it that the mother of my Lord should come and see me? Jesus is Lord in the womb, Jesus is Lord in his life, and Jesus is Lord on the cross. There was never a time when Jesus emptied himself of his saving power. He never emptied himself. of his deity.
He never emptied himself of who he was. The Lord Jesus Christ on the cross exercises salvation to the uttermost. The rulers sneered, saying, he saved others, let him save himself if he is the Christ, the chosen of God. There is here a lesson about sovereign grace also.
A lesson about sovereign grace. Notice it wasn't both criminals. Why is it that one criminal goes through this change? We have nothing, no reason whatsoever to believe he was the smarter one.
We have no reason to believe that he was the better one. He's described in the same terms, notorious prisoner, robber, murderer. What happened to him happened from without. God broke in.
God convicted him of his sin. God showed him the glory of Jesus. God saved him to the uttermost. Sovereign grace.
What about Barabbas? Off Barabbas goes, never to be heard from again, at least that we know of. I mean, just imagine God's sovereignty here. This guy's a robber and a murderer.
He's sentenced to die. He's sentenced to be crucified. He gets to the 11th hour. He's on the cross.
He's about to die, and God saves him. Isn't that a glorious God we serve? Never give up preaching the gospel, never give up witnessing, never give up testifying. Maybe his mother wanted him to be saved when he was a little guy, and she always pointed him to Yahweh of Israel, and she catechized him, and she prayed for him, and she labored over him, and he rejected it, and he spurned it, and he went off into his pathway of being a robber and being a murderer.
Everybody had given up hope. This guy's finally getting what he deserves, right? He's finally meeting his match. He's finally coming to his end.
And the Lord Jesus saves him. It's amazing. This gives no encouragement to any to put off their repentance. This is Matthew Henry.
To their deathbed, or to hope that then they shall find mercy. For though it is certain that true repentance is never too late, it is as certain that late repentance is seldom true. In other words, we don't take this account and say, again, well, I'm going to wait until my 11th hour, and there I think God's just going to zap me. You hear the preaching of the gospel, believe on the Lord Jesus.
And then finally,
Salvation by Grace Alone
there is a lesson here about salvation. It is never by words. It is always by grace. This man had nothing to contribute.
This man didn't even get baptized, and yet he would be with the Lord Jesus on that day in paradise. The hymn we sing, we'll sing tonight. The dying thief rejoiced to see that fountain in his day. And there have I, as vile as he, washed all my sins away.
It's a beautiful hymn, 188. As I said, we'll sing that in just a few moments, but hopefully we are encouraged. Hopefully we are buoyed up in our understanding of Jesus Christ on the cross and his work on behalf of sinners. That is why we come specifically with reference to the bread and the wine this one time during the month to remember in a special way what Jesus did on that cross, how he gave himself up for our sins, how he gave himself up so that we could someday be with him in paradise.
Well, let us pray.
Closing Prayer
Father, thank you for your word and thank you for the grace of Christ and for the power of Christ and the fact that he saves this man even in his dying hour. We just thank you for the salvation that you have poured out upon us. God, as Calper says, the dying thief rejoiced to see that fountain in his day. And we are vile and we need that fountain.
And we praise you that you have plunged us, that you have blessed us, that you have washed us from all of our guilty stains. Help us now, God, as we consider the Lord's Supper, as we consider these elements. We know they remain bread, they remain wine, they remain those things that that they are, they don't become something other, they don't become the actual body of our Lord Jesus, but they do serve to point us again to the cross, to point us again to the dying work of our glorious Savior. We thank you for this time together and we pray in Jesus' name.
Amen.