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Well, please turn with me in 
your Bibles to Luke's Gospel, Luke chapter 23. Having finished 
chapter 19 in the book of Acts, we'll take probably just about 
a month off and then return to Acts chapter 20. This morning 
we're going to look at the thief on the cross in Luke 23, verses 
39 to 43. I'll pick up reading, however, 
at verse 32. I'm sorry, 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. Well, let us pray. Father, 
thank you for your written word. Thank you that the Spirit gave 
it to us. It's profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, 
and for instruction in righteousness. And we pray that you would encourage 
our hearts now with this view of Jesus Christ, our Lord and 
Savior. We pray that you'd open eyes 
and hearts to receive the truth as it is in Him for the salvation 
of sinners today. We pray that wherever this gospel 
is preached, the word would run swiftly and be glorified. And 
we thank you for that promise from the prophet Isaiah, that 
your word does not return unto you void. It accomplishes the 
purpose for which you sent it, and in this we greatly rejoice. 
And God, we appeal to you as gracious, as merciful, as kind. 
We pray that that word would indeed do the work of salvation, 
be the instrument in the hand of the Spirit to bring Christ 
to bear upon the hearts and minds of those who stand in great need. 
Even now, forgive us for all of our sins and unrighteousness, 
cleanse us in that precious blood of the Lord Jesus, and cause 
the Spirit to be at work in all of our hearts and minds. And 
may we see Christ as altogether lovely and as chief among 10,000. 
And I pray as well for the troop family. I pray for my beloved 
wife. I pray for my brother-in-law and sisters-in-law. God, I ask 
that you would just comfort and strengthen them, cause them to 
reflect upon the glory of Christ as we just sang. He is the king 
in Emmanuel's land. He is what makes heaven heaven. 
And I pray for my father-in-law. Father in heaven, I pray that 
you would just watch over him. Grant him grace, grant him strength, 
grant him the ability, Father in heaven, to be kept by you 
in your power. And we ask this through Jesus 
Christ, our Lord. Amen. Well, we're going to look 
at the thief on the cross this morning. It's one of the sayings 
of the Savior on the cross. There are several of them. And 
this one, of course, is to the benefit of this dying thief. Christ, in his mercy and in his 
grace, answers this man's petition in the 11th hour. So I want to 
look first of all at the conversion of the thief in verses 39 to 
42, and then secondly, at the graciousness of the Savior in 
verse 43. So let's first look at the conversion 
of the thief. Notice the situation confronting 
him. According to verse 32, He is 
a criminal and he is led away with Jesus ultimately to be put 
to death. There were three crucifixions 
scheduled for that day and we see that one of them was in fact 
him. This was going to be his 11th 
hour. This man knew this, this man 
understood this, this man recognizes the guilt that he bore with reference 
to his crimes and to his sins. And then we notice the change 
that occurs in the thief. It's not strictly parallel to 
a sort of a New Testament Ordo Salutis, but I think if we look 
hard enough, we will see all of those elements, all of those 
principles involved in the great change that was wrought in this 
thief on the cross. And notice the blasphemy of the 
other thief in verse 39. It says, then one of the criminals 
who were hanged blasphemed him, this is Jesus, saying, if you 
are the Christ, save yourself and us. Now the parallel passages 
in Matthew and in Mark indicate that both of the thieves were 
at one time blaspheming the Lord Jesus Christ. But we see this 
change occur in this particular thief because he's no longer 
blaspheming, but now he goes to rebuke his fellow thief, and 
he then goes on to confess his faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. If you look back at Matthew chapter 
27 for a moment, you will see what the nature of this one thief's 
blasphemy was. It's indicated a little bit there 
in Luke, but I think it comes out more clearly in Matthew 27 
at verse 38. It says, Then two robbers were 
crucified with him, one on the right and another on the left. 
And those who passed by blasphemed him, wagging their heads. It's 
kind of a smug and condescending way to treat people, this wagging 
of the head. For those of you who wonder how 
it went yesterday at the pro-life rally, there were a lot of fingers 
and a lot of thumbs. Thumbs from the pro-lifers and 
fingers from the pro-choicers. As well, there's a lot of this 
sort of wagging of the head, looking at us and scowling at 
us like, how dare you? Mind your own business. What 
is it that you think you are doing out here? This condescending, 
smug sort of a thing. Well, this obtained at the base 
of the cross when our Savior was dying for our sins. Those 
who passed by blasphemed Him, wagging their heads and saying, 
You who destroy the temple and build it in three days, save 
yourself. If you are the Son of God, come 
down from the cross. Likewise, the chief priests also, 
mocking what the scribes and elders said, He saved others, 
Himself He cannot save. If He is the King of Israel, 
let Him now come down from the cross, and we will believe Him. 
He trusted in God, let him deliver him now if he will have him, 
for he said, I am the son of God. Even the robbers who were 
crucified with him reviled him with the same thing. So these 
men were aping the chief priests, the scribes, the elders, and 
the passersby. They were mocking Christ who 
claimed to be a savior for sinners. If you follow Jesus in his teaching 
ministry, you would hear him say things like the son of man 
did not come to to be served, but to serve and to give his 
life a ransom for many. The Son of Man came to seek and 
to save that which was lost." So now they're mocking him. He's 
in this position of great suffering, this position of great compromise, 
and they're wagging their heads, and they're saying things like, 
he saved others, let him save himself. Of course, the great 
irony is, is that he's in the process of saving his people 
from their sins. And in this particular account, 
he is saving this thief, among whom the grace of God has come 
to his heart. So in response to this blasphemy, 
now our thief, I'm going to call him that to distinguish him from 
the blaspheming thief, now our thief makes a response to his 
fellow thief, and then he makes a response to the Lord Jesus 
Christ. So notice in verses, 40 to 41, 
he speaks to the fellow thief, and then in verse 42, he speaks 
to our Lord. Now, notice in the first place, 
this thief is concerned for others. He is concerned for others in 
verse 40, but the other answering rebuked him. He rebuked him because 
this thief, the blaspheming one, was adding insult to injury. 
And our thief sees this, and he sees how wicked and how wretched 
it really is. Now, I would submit that the 
grace of God changes persons from being obsessed and consumed 
with themselves to now being others-minded. And this particular 
fellow is now minded with reference to our Lord Jesus Christ. He 
understands that he is in this position of compromise, he is 
in this position of suffering, and it's just not right that 
this other blasphemous thief would condemn him and would engage 
in this sort of a thing with reference to him. Secondly, our 
thief manifests the fear of God. Now, it's not as developed as 
we might appreciate, and it's certainly conjoined with the 
fact that he is being executed, and he knows and recognizes that 
he is entering into the eternal state. But the reality of that 
execution and the prospect of falling into the hands of the 
living God promotes fear. Brethren, when Paul summarizes 
the universal condemnation of all men because of their sin, 
he ends in Romans 3.18 by underscoring the reality facing both Jew and 
Gentile outside of Christ that there is no fear of God before 
their eyes. In other words, when we look 
outside, when we look even inside, one of the things that is consistent 
among those that don't know God is a lack or absence of the fear 
of God. There is a promise in the prophet 
Jeremiah in chapter 32, verse 40 concerning the new covenant, 
and God says, I will put the fear of me in their hearts. And 
we see this thief now possesses something of this fear. He says, 
do you not even fear God? Have you not reflected upon the 
gravity of our situation? We are being executed by the 
civil state for having engaged in notorious crimes. we're going 
to fall into the hands of the living God. And this promotes 
in this particular man, the fear of God. If that is absent from 
your own heart, you need to repent because we will all stand before 
this holy God to give an account of deeds done in the body, whether 
good or evil. We will stand before one that 
the angels confess nonstop, holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts. The whole earth is full of his 
glory. When we understand God's holiness and when we recognize 
our own unholiness, the fear of God really should permeate 
our hearts and our lives. It should be something indicative 
of our place before a holy God. Now notice, thirdly, what happens. 
He owns his guilt for his sin. There is a sense where persons 
can be mindful of the wickedness of sin and the horror of crime, 
but always see it as out there. This man, however, owns his own 
sin, which is evidence of the grace of God in his heart. Look 
at what he says to this fellow thief. He 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 for our deeds. Now, when we refer to 
this man, and I have several times, I call him a thief. But 
the bottom line is, as far as I know, the Roman Empire didn't 
execute, didn't engage in capital punishment of thieves. So there's 
something more at play in the New Testament documents that 
indicate what this particular fellow was, and I want to investigate 
that. In the first place, the thieves, 
as we've seen, are referred to as criminals in verse 32. The definition for this is criminal, 
evildoer, one who commits gross misdeeds and serious crimes. 
I'm not suggesting that theft is not a gross misdeed and a 
serious crime, but it's typically not treated as a capital offense. 
When you look at the Old Testament, there are no instances of capital 
offense for thievery except in man-stealing. With reference 
to kidnapping or enslaving somebody else, that is a capital offense 
and that is worthy of execution. What these thieves were guilty 
of, I think, transcends your normal thievery. Now notice in 
Matthew chapter 27, we can turn to these passages. I want to 
make a case here concerning the state of this thief because I 
think it magnifies even more the greatness and the graciousness 
of our Savior. In Matthew chapter 27 at verse 
38, we see him referred to as a robber. We see that same reference 
in verse 44. Even the robbers who were crucified 
with him reviled him with the same thing. You see the same 
word used in Mark 15 at verse 27, and the word simply means, 
in the first definition, robber, highwayman, or bandit. But the 
second definition I think is more appropriate and is more 
true of what this man was. The second definition is revolutionary, 
insurrectionist, or guerrilla. Kids, when you hear gorilla, 
it's a different type of a spelling. He's not an ape, he's not a simian, 
he doesn't beat on his chest, he doesn't drag his knuckles. 
Gorilla is something like a revolutionary, a rebel, somebody that is in 
fact guilty of horrific crimes. In Matthew 26 at verse 55, Jesus 
uses the same word there, and the new King James translates 
it as robbers. He says, you've come to me as 
if I'm a robber. Again, I don't think he is speaking 
about one who is engaged in thievery, but rather they saw him as a 
revolutionary. They saw him as an insurrectionist. 
They saw him as one who was a threat to the civil order. That's how 
they sold it to Pilate. They said that he was a competing 
king and this is why Pilate intervened and ultimately gave the kill 
order so that the Jews could carry out this execution of our 
Lord Jesus. So back to Luke 23, I want to 
also indicate that there is a connection between these two thieves and 
Barabbas. Barabbas is referred to as a 
revolutionary or insurrectionist in John 18, 40. Barabbas is called 
a notorious prisoner in Matthew chapter 27 at verse 16. Right 
here, notice in Luke 23 at verse 18, it says, And they all cried 
out at once, saying, Away with this man, and release to us Barabbas, 
who had been thrown into prison for a certain rebellion made 
in the city and for murder. And then notice in Mark 15, 7, 
you can turn there, just to show the connection between the two 
thieves on the cross and this man called Barabbas. Mark 15, 
verse 7, and there was one named Barabbas who was chained with 
his fellow rebels. Notice the next word, it's a 
plural. They had committed murder in the rebellion. There were 
going to be three crucifixions that day. It was going to be 
Barabbas and his two cronies. But because the Jews prevailed, 
Pilate releases Barabbas and Jesus takes his spot. So when 
we refer to this thief on the cross, he didn't go to Walmart 
and steal a cloak. He didn't go to Walmart and steal 
a candy bar. This man was guilty of rebellion 
and complicit in murder and in seeking, perhaps, to overthrow 
civil government. He was a bad actor. He was a 
bad character. He was a very wretched criminal. 
And we need to understand that. He now owns the guilt of his 
own sin. If you have an understanding 
of sin in general and see how bad everybody else is, I guess 
that's okay, but there is that sense where prior to our coming 
to the Lord Jesus Christ, and it's not like years or months 
or seasons or whatever, but we have a consciousness of our own 
sin before a holy God. We see ourselves the way that 
Publican does in Luke 18. He doesn't even look up into 
heaven. He beats his breast and he says, God be merciful to me, 
the sinner. So this change, the grace of 
God that has come upon this man, has now caused him to see his 
own sinfulness before a holy God, and the justness of the 
civil state putting him to death for his criminal activity. This 
is quite the advance in terms of his understanding. If he started 
off the day on the cross blaspheming the Lord Jesus, and now he's 
at this particular point confessing the legitimacy of his execution 
and of the sinfulness of his own sin or crime, this is the 
sign or an indicator that God's grace is at work in his heart. 
Matthew Henry said, true penitents acknowledge the justice of God 
in all the punishments of their sin. True penitents acknowledge 
the justice of God in the punishment of all their sins. C.S. Lewis has an essay in his book, 
God in the Dark, and one of them has to do with the problem of 
national repentance. The problem of national repentance, 
when persons get up and confess the sins of everybody else. Now, 
there might be a place for that, and if we look in the scripture, 
I'm sure we'd find evidence of that. But at the same time, it 
abstracts it from us. It makes it other people's problem. 
It's like our prime minister saying, we have racism in Canada. Well, we didn't wear blackface, 
and we haven't engaged in the sorts of things that are typically 
qualified as racism. Don't put us in that same category. You see, when it comes to sin 
before a holy God, it's not just the recognition that it's out 
there. It's the recognition that it's 
in here, and that it's filthy, and that it's festering, and 
that it demands God's wrath and curse, both in this life and 
that which is to come. The thief got it. The thief understands. The thief recognizes. The thief 
knows. It's not a problem out there. 
It's a problem right And that's why he is rebuking his fellow 
thief for having blasphemed our Lord Jesus. Now notice the last 
thing that he says to his fellow thief. He says, but this man 
has done nothing wrong. And here I would say he indicates 
or acknowledges rather the sinlessness of Jesus Christ. Now the thief 
doubtless means he has done nothing wrong to deserve capital punishment. I suspect that's precisely what 
he means, but there are often times in the gospel narratives 
where persons speak better than they even know. He understood 
that Christ was not a worthy recipient of the death penalty. 
But what he says there is confessed by the people of God. He's done 
nothing wrong. Hebrews 7.26 tells us he's holy, 
he's harmless, he's undefiled, he's separate from sinners. We 
see in the book of John's Gospel in John chapter 1, Behold the 
Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. What was the 
stipulation in the Old Testament relative to the sacrifice that 
God would accept? Did God want the lame? Did God 
want the mangy? Did God want the crippled? No, 
God demanded the best. And so when John confesses the 
Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world, I think he's 
highlighting that same reality. God provided the best, the holy, 
harmless, spotless one. The Lord willing, tonight, we 
will sing that. Guilty, vile, helpless, we. Spotless Lamb of God was He. Full atonement, can it be? Hallelujah, 
what a Savior. He recognizes his own sin before 
a holy God, and he recognizes the sinlessness of the Savior. And that is crucial for those 
who wonder about what it is to come to Christ. You need to see 
him the way the thief sees him. You need to see him as the one 
who obeys the law of God perfectly, who is not the one that is worthy 
for the execution inflicted by the criminal state. He isn't 
there because of his sins. He's not there because of his 
crimes. He's not there because of his malfeasance. He is there 
because of us. He's there because of this thief. 
He's there because in the program of God Almighty, this is the 
way of salvation. Paul says in Hebrews 9.22, without 
the shedding of blood there is no remission. So Christ is the 
spotless Lamb of God who always obeys the Father in His life, 
who goes to the cross as a substitute and sacrifice in His death, and 
who's raised again the third day to answer for everything 
that needy sinners need. We need a righteousness. We have 
it in Christ. It's imputed to us and received 
by faith alone. We need forgiveness or cleansing 
or washing through his blood. We have it. It comes through 
that precious blood of our Lord Jesus. This thief understood 
the grace of God. He knew something of the reality 
of the judgment of God. And now he turns his attention 
to express his faith to our Lord Jesus. And notice what he says 
here. Verse 42, then he said to Jesus, 
Lord, remember me when you come into your kingdom. The thief 
acknowledges, in the first place, life beyond the grave. It's a 
good acknowledgment. Persons need to have that. It's 
not the case that everything we see here is it. After we'd 
breathe our last, we either enter into the presence of God Almighty 
or cast away into the lake of fire. Those are the two options. 
The Bible knows no third place. There's no purgatory. There's 
no limbo. There's no soul sleep. There's 
no mortality of the soul. But there is rather, God having 
made us in His image, we have a derived immortality, such that 
when we begin, we don't end. So where is it that we won't 
end? Will we not end in the presence of God, or will we not end in 
the presence of the devil and his angels? Again, those are 
the two options. So the thief recognizes that. 
He knows there's life beyond the grave. And where more so 
than in the 11th hour, as he's about to pass from this life, 
would this be keenly mindful to him? So he says, Lord, remember 
me in your kingdom. And then secondly, the thief 
sees Jesus as the Lord who possesses a kingdom. Think about that for 
just a moment. The thief sees Jesus as a Lord 
who possesses a kingdom. Now, you say, well, that's what 
every believer does. They see Jesus as the Lord who 
possesses a kingdom. The apostles saw that. They knew 
that Jesus was the Lord that possessed a kingdom. Others that 
Jesus had dealings with in his earthly ministry saw Jesus as 
a Lord who possessed a kingdom. Zacchaeus, for instance. Remember, 
he was to hurry down from that tree, and the Lord Jesus was 
going to go eat at his house. As I said, the apostles witnessed 
the evidences of his glory and his majesty when he healed people. 
But think what this thief saw. He didn't see him healing people. 
He didn't see him feeding the hungry. He didn't see him healing 
the blind. He sees a broken, bruised, and bloodied Savior 
on that cross. He looks through the gore and 
confesses him as Lord. This is why John Calvin is able 
to say, Lord, remember me. I know not that since the creation 
of the world, there was ever a more remarkable and striking 
example of faith. You see, it's one thing to respond 
to Jesus after having fed 5000 and say, You're the Lord who 
possesses a kingdom. It's another thing to glance 
next to you and see a man suffering at the hands of the civil state 
in the worst possible form ever. To see the crown of thorns on 
his head, to see the blood pouring down, to see his hands nailed 
to the cross, his feet nailed to the cross, and to confess 
him as Lord in that situation. That is why Calvin says this 
is a great example of faith. He was no fair-weather fan. He 
was not one who, as long as the bread was coming, he confessed 
faith in Jesus. But he saw Jesus at his place 
of destitution as nevertheless a Lord possessing a kingdom. 
Ryle makes the observation in his essay, Christ's Greatest 
Trophy. He says, he only saw our Lord 
in agony and in weakness, in suffering and in pain. He saw 
him undergoing dishonorable punishment, deserted, mocked, despised, blasphemed. 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 faith. That's everything. It's not, oh, as long as he's 
doing this, or as long as he's providing this, or as long as 
he's getting me off of this cross and giving me life happy in this 
world. No, faith looks beyond that, 
and faith sees Christ as Lord, who possesses a kingdom, even 
when he's at this position of great disadvantage and he is 
suffering in an excruciating way. And brethren, this man casts 
himself upon the mercy of God. To recognize the afterlife is 
good. To acknowledge Christ as Lord 
and one who possesses kingdom is excellent. But to cast oneself 
by the grace of God on the mercy of Christ is absolutely crucial. Because there are persons that 
say, yeah, I believe in an afterlife, then end up in hell. There are 
people, cognitively, that can go to a textual analysis of the 
Bible and say, yes, Jesus is in fact a Lord and one who possesses 
the kingdom. But it's essential, it is crucial, 
it is absolutely of most importance that we, by grace, cast ourselves 
on the mercy of God. This means to believe in Him. 
It means to look to Him. Jesus uses the passage in Numbers 
22, when Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, and 
those who looked lived. And He equates that to His own 
suffering. He says, the Son of Man will 
be lifted up, and everyone who looks to Me will live. Brethren, 
faith is what it's about. This man was not justified by 
his works. He was not justified by his righteousness. He wasn't justified by his church 
attendance. He wasn't justified by his knowledge 
of the catechism. He was justified by faith in 
the suffering Savior who went to these lengths to save his 
people from their sin. See why the gospel is good news? 
You don't have works. You don't have righteousness. 
You don't have something that God's going to look at and say, 
wow, you're a wonderful person. Enter into my kingdom. No, God 
says, look ye unto me, all ye ends of the earth, for I am God 
and there is no other. What's the implication? You look 
and you live. That's the glory of the Christian 
gospel. Lord, remember me. I know not 
that since the creation of the world, there ever was a more 
remarkable and striking example of faith. Now, as we stop for 
just a moment to move on to the graciousness of the Savior, this 
is beautiful, isn't it? Look at what this teaches us. 
In fact, Ryle says, one thief was saved that no sinner might 
despair, but only one was saved that no sinner might presume. 
good observation and a good statement of balance. Are there deathbed 
conversions? Yeah. Are they the norm in the 
Bible? No. Typically, it's when Christ 
moves from place to place, from town to town, and he calls the 
likes of Matthew, he calls the likes of Zacchaeus, he calls 
the likes of Peter and James and John and the other apostles. 
Those weren't 11th hour situations. This was, and this gives us great 
encouragement, but I want to discourage this thought from 
anyone who says, well, I'll wait till I'm on my deathbed. I'll 
wait till I'm at that 11th hour. I'll wait till I'm old and gray 
and I'm decrepit and I'm all done with my life, and then I'll 
make peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. That is the 
devil's logic. There is an instance where we 
wouldn't be dissuaded or we wouldn't be despaired, but there's only 
one so that we don't presume. Don't presume. The gospel goes 
forth today. The demand of God is to look. to believe. We know it's His 
grace that enables compliance with that. But we see that it's 
even to great sinners. This man was an insurrectionist. 
This man was a rebel. This man was complicit in murder. And nevertheless, this thief 
found mercy. So let's look at the graciousness 
of the Savior. In the last hour, we sang hymn 
number 440, and it says, in one stanza, come ye sinners, poor 
and wretched, weak and wounded, sick and sore. Jesus ready stands 
to save you, full of pity, joined with power. He is able. He is able. He is able. He is 
willing, doubt no more. He is willing, doubt no more. 
Well, we see those twin concepts combined here in the Savior. 
He stands ready to save you, full of pity, joined with power. See, both those elements are 
crucial. Could you imagine having someone who pitied you? Someone 
who had compassion for you? Somebody that saw you in your 
misery, in your wretchedness, and if he could, he'd like to 
do something, but he can't. That would be terrible. Or imagine 
on the other side, the other extreme. You have one that's 
powerful, you have one that has competency, you have one who 
has the ability to save, but he doesn't have the pity, he 
doesn't have the compassion, he doesn't have the mercy. See, 
that's not the case with our Lord Jesus. Full of pity, joined 
with power. And you see that in this small 
response that is filled with a world of of theology to this 
thief on the cross. Notice in the first place the 
willingness of the Savior. Consider his situation. Again, 
he's not wandering through the hills of Judah, you know, feeding 
people and caring for people. He is on the cross. He is in 
his 11th hour. He is suffering excruciating 
pain. He is the target of man's enmity 
and hostility. He has heard them say, away with 
him, away with him, crucify him. And he has now seen them get 
what they wanted, and he's on that cross. But even beyond that, 
he is suffering the wrath and the fury of God Almighty. He 
knows what it is to taste hell on that cross. So Jesus is in 
that state of great excruciating pain and suffering. And nevertheless, 
he listens to this other thief. He pays attention to him. Brethren, 
that's our Jesus. Remember that bit in Mark chapter 
10, when blind Bartimaeus cries out amongst the multitudes, Jesus, 
thou son of David, have mercy upon me. What's the multitude 
do? They hush him. They rebuke him. They shut him 
up. They say, essentially, he has no time for you. It's a big 
crowd. He's passing through Jericho. 
He doesn't have Any time for this lowly blind beggar? Thankfully, 
the lowly blind beggar had some faith and he cried out again, 
Jesus, thou son of David, have mercy upon me. What's the text 
say? Was the crowd right? Did Jesus 
just pass on by? No, Jesus stops. Jesus leaves 
the crowd. He walks over to blind Bartimaeus 
and he says to that man, what would you have me to do? And 
Blaine Bartimaeus says, Lord, I want to see. So Christ heals 
him. Christ saves him. Christ is the 
champion for the little man. Christ is the champion for those 
who are in a position of disadvantage. Christ does come to the poor 
and needy, the weak and wounded, the sick and sore. Christ does 
come to call sinners to repentance, not the righteous, because there 
ain't none. And the same thing is true here. 
Jesus said to him, he pays attention to the man when Jesus himself 
is excruciating or going through excruciating suffering and pain. 
Jesus says to him, and then notice what he says, Assuredly, I say 
to you, today you will be with me in paradise. We see the willingness 
and the fact that he listens. We see the competency or the 
power or ability in the fact that he assures him. This isn't 
amen. We say that word amen. Well, 
it means surely, assuredly. It means verily or truly. And so he underscores this. This 
isn't a cheap wish on the part of the Savior. This isn't like 
you or I might say, well, have a great day, and we don't really 
even think about it, or peace to you, and we don't really think 
about it. When Jesus says assuredly, he wants us to pay attention. 
He wants this thief to understand that what he speaks does come 
to pass, that what he speaks is true, that what he speaks 
is efficacious and effectual for this man's salvation. So 
he is not only willing, but he is also able. Now notice he assures 
this man of a place in his kingdom. He says, assuredly I say to you, 
today you will be with me in paradise. This is the answer 
to the dying thief's prayer, isn't it? This is precisely what 
the man prays for and Christ answers him. Assuredly, I say 
to you today, Good Friday, you will be with me in paradise. 
The immediacy involved, it's not in a future sort of millennial 
kingdom. If you're familiar with the New 
World Translation, they move the comma at this place because 
Jehovah's Witnesses deny the immortality of the soul. They 
have the understanding that when persons die, that's it. There 
is a cessation of being. They go into the dirt. The only 
ones resurrected are the 144,000, and then the cloud of faithful 
witnesses, those Jehovah's Witnesses that didn't make the 144,000, 
but will live forever on a sort of a beautiful earth. So they 
move the comma, so that it's, in essence, what he says is, 
Assuredly, I say to you today. What I'm saying to you today 
is going to happen to you in the future. That is moronic and 
it is nonsensical. What Jesus is assuring this particular 
fellow of is that you woke up this morning as a guilty, vile, 
helpless man. You are subject to the legitimacy 
of the Roman state in executing you for your grievous crimes. 
But your end of this particular day is going to be with me in 
paradise above. That is a willing and an able 
Savior. That is a pitiful, one who has 
pity upon people, and one who has the competency to actually 
act upon that. Full of pity, joined with power, 
Jesus stands ready to save. If that is contrary to your way 
of thought, don't let it be. Because from Genesis to Revelation, 
that's how God shows himself. That's how God demonstrates himself. 
When Adam and Eve sin, they run from God. It's God who conquers. When the tower builders at Babel 
make that tower to make a name for themselves, God scatters 
them, God confounds them, and then God comes to Abram to assure 
him that in him there will be a great multitude saved. God 
is a seeking and saving God. If you have been taught otherwise, 
you have been taught wrong. The Lord Most High, our God, 
saves to the uttermost all who draw nigh unto Him through His 
Son, the Lord Jesus. So disavow, disabuse, get rid 
of any thought contrary to the father of the prodigal running 
from the porch and falling on him and kissing him and putting 
a ring on his finger and putting a robe on his back and slaying 
the fatted calf to rejoice that this son who was dead is now 
alive, this son who was lost is now found. That theology that 
confounds this, that theology that disputes this is a theology 
that is wrong. patently, blatantly wrong. God Most High is in Christ Jesus, 
according to the Apostle Paul in 2 Corinthians, reconciling 
the world to Himself. God so loved the world that He 
gave His only begotten Son. How did we ever get it so backwards? How did we get it so reversed? 
How did we take the prophets and turn them on their heads? 
How did we take the Savior and his apostles and turn them on 
their heads? How did we ever think that if 
I come to Jesus, He won't save me? Or if I come to Jesus, He 
won't have me? Or if I come to Jesus, He will 
say, what is it that you're doing coming to me? Why have we not 
listened to Jesus? When in John 6, 37, he says, 
all that the Father gives me will come to me and the one who 
comes to me, I will certainly not cast out. There may be a 
whole host of people in your life that'll cast you out, but 
not Jesus. He will never cast out a sinner 
who comes to him. He is willing, but he's able 
as well. And in this, we greatly rejoice. Notice as well, his grace. His grace. Jesus ready stands 
to save you, full of pity, joined with power. He is able, he is 
able, he is able, he is willing. Doubt no more, he is willing. 
Doubt no more. That is the graciousness of God. 
There was no sort of preparation on the part of this thief. Jesus 
doesn't say, have you had your fill of misery? Are you sufficiently 
conscious of the fact that you're a sinner? Grace is the means 
by which sinners are saved, and that grace is demonstrable, it 
is manifest, it is palpable at the cross. There was nothing 
that this man had to bring, but he simply clinged to the cross 
of our Lord Jesus Christ. Before we end the exposition 
and conclude with just a few thoughts, I want to look at what 
Jesus says here in the verse again. He says, Assuredly, I 
say to you, today you will be with me in paradise. With me. That little clause that indicates 
union with Christ for us in this life. We believe the gospel. 
We are in union with our Lord Jesus Christ. What a blessed 
thing, this with-me-ness. But he's speaking about the with-me-ness 
of the eschaton. He's speaking of paradise, which 
what Jesus says here indicates that he didn't spend three days 
in hell. Christ tasted hell on the cross. There was no descent 
in terms of a three-day period in which he spent time actually 
in hell. The hell he experienced was on 
the cross. It evoked from him that cry of 
dereliction. My God, my God, why hast thou 
forsaken me? He suffered the penalty of loss, 
which was the deprivation of the goodness of his father. He 
suffered the penalty of sins, wherein he received the active 
bruising of Yahweh himself for the sins of his people. There 
was no three-day period where he went into hell. In fact, look 
later in Luke's Gospel, the last saying of the Savior on the cross 
in verse 46. And when Jesus had cried out 
with a loud voice, he said, Father, into your hands I commit my spirit. Having said this, he breathed 
his last. So the reality is that Christ 
suffered on the cross the very wrath and fury and penalty due 
for us. And Christ experienced, tasted 
it for the sons of God Almighty. And then that last idea that 
you will be with me in paradise. The response indicates that heaven 
is heaven because Jesus is there. You know, you read those statements 
in the book of Revelation. We might read a couple in just 
a moment. But it talks about where John is describing the 
New Jerusalem. It's a temple. That's what he 
sees coming out of heaven. It's the temple of God Most High. It is the dwelling of God with 
His people. But he speaks about those golden 
streets, and he speaks about those pearly gates, and he speaks 
about the great pomp and glory that is that city, that New Jerusalem. But brethren, what makes heaven 
heaven? It's the Lord God Almighty. And I want us to encourage our 
hearts with that reality. Today, you will be with me in 
paradise. Look at 1 Thessalonians chapter 4. 1 Thessalonians chapter 
4. I don't want to get into the 
erroneous understanding of this passage, except to say it doesn't 
teach a secret rapture. It does not teach a secret rapture. 
If this is a secret rapture, it's the loudest secret that's 
ever happened on the face of the earth. You don't typically 
associate secrets with shouts, voices of archangels, and the 
trumpets of God. That's just not a secret. This 
is very obvious, very conspicuous, and full on for everybody to 
see and hear. Notice in 415 in 1 Thessalonians, for this we 
say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and 
remain until the coming of the Lord will by no means precede 
those who are asleep. See, Paul was questioned with 
this. They had this idea, this expectation, the Thessalonians 
in particular, that Christ was going to come at any moment. 
And the thought was that if Christ comes at any moment, what happens 
to those who have gone before us? What happens to our dearly 
departed dead? What happens to those we put 
in the ground? What happens to those who have experienced their 
11th hour and entered into the next phase? What is it that's 
going to happen to them? That's the nature of the issue. 
It's not the question of a secret rapture where the Gentiles are 
taken out and the Jews now get their prophetic clock tuned back 
in. That's just not what's happening. He says, for this we say to you 
by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until 
the coming of the Lord will by no means precede those who are 
asleep. For the Lord himself will descend 
from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and 
with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise 
first. then we who are alive and remain 
shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the 
Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with 
the Lord." Again, that's what heaven is about. It's being in 
the presence of the Lord. It's not the gold, it's not the 
pearls, it's not the others. It is the Lamb who is all the 
glory of Emmanuel's land. And that's what our Bibles tell 
us. And that's what we have in the future age. If you are not 
in Christ, you have just the opposite. You will hear from 
him, depart from me, for I never knew you. But if you are in him, 
you hear, well done, good and faithful servant, enter into 
the joy of your rest. Scripture makes a contrast. There's 
no rest for the wicked, but there is continual rest for those who 
are in Christ Jesus. Those who pass from us in this 
life, enter in to the presence of the Lord God most high. It 
is most encouraging, it is most excellent. Now turn to Revelation 
chapter 21. Revelation chapter 21. Verse one, now I saw a new heaven 
and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had 
passed away. Also, there was no more sea. Then I, John, saw 
the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from 
God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard 
a loud voice from heaven saying, behold, the tabernacle of God 
is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be 
his people. God himself will be with them and be their God. 
That is the pinnacle of covenant promise. That is the pinnacle 
of covenant blessing. You trace the redemptive covenants 
of God and this is what the endgame is, is that God is our God and 
we are His people. Verse 4, God will wipe away every 
tear from their eyes. There shall be no more death, 
nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, 
for the former things have passed away. Look at Revelation 21, 
22. But I saw no temple in it, for 
the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. The city 
had no need of the sun or of the moon to shine in it, for 
the glory of God illuminated it. The Lamb is its light, and 
the nations of those who are saved shall walk in its light, 
and the kings of the earth bring their glory and honor into it. 
Its gates shall not be shut at all by day, there shall be no 
night there. And they shall bring the glory 
and the honor of the nations into it. But there shall by no 
means enter in anything that defiles or causes an abomination 
or a lie, but only those who are written in the Lamb's Book 
of Life. You might think, well, you shouldn't have read that 
last verse. Everything was Peachy King. Brethren, Peachy King is 
the exclusion of all wickedness from the presence of God Almighty. 
The people of God rejoice in that. The people of God long 
for that. The people of God want to go 
to that place wherein righteousness dwells. And that cannot obtain 
when the lawless are amongst the people of God. So these statements 
concerning the exclusion of the wicked are to encourage the people 
of God. We're going to a place where 
we don't see the sorts of attacks upon the Savior that we are seeing. If you've noticed, if you've 
been paying attention, I think communism is showing its ugly 
teeth. What are they burning now in 
the city of Portland? Bibles. Don't underestimate the 
anti-Christian nature of Marxist communism and their desire to 
eradicate the knowledge of God Almighty. Brethren, we are going 
to a place where that's not going to happen. There's no Bible burning. 
There is no blasphemy against our king. There is no persecution 
for the people of God Almighty. There's righteousness that dwells 
in that beautiful place. Notice in 22, 1, He showed me 
a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding 
from the throne of God and of the Lamb. In the middle of its 
street and on either side of the river was the tree of life, 
which bore twelve fruits, each tree yielding its fruit every 
month. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations, 
and there shall be no more curse. But the throne of God and of 
the Lamb shall be in it, and His servants shall serve Him. 
They shall see His face, and His name shall be on their foreheads. 
There shall be no night there. They need no lamp nor light of 
the sun, for the Lord God gives them light, and they shall reign 
forever and ever. He says to him, you will be with 
me in paradise. You woke up today. You knew you 
were guilty. You were punished by the civil 
state. But when you close your eyes 
in death and you pass from this plane of existence into the next, 
you're going to look upon not a bloodied, beaten, gory Savior, 
but the Son of God who loved you and who took away the sin 
of you. What a blessed and beautiful 
prospect that he holds out to this thief on the cross. Well, 
in conclusion, well, before conclusion, I want to repeat what we just 
sang. The bride is not her garment, but her dear bridegroom's face. 
I will not gaze at glory, but on my king of grace. Not at the 
crown he gifteth, but on his pierced hand. The lamb is all 
the glory of Emmanuel's land. I think outside of Scripture, 
that's one of my favorite verses, my favorite stanzas of all time, 
because it highlights. It's not the crown that he gifts. 
It's not the goods that he bestows. It's him. It's him. Today you 
will be with me, Jesus says, in paradise. Paradise is paradise 
because Christ is there. It's always bugging me when people 
describe heaven as the big basketball arena in the sky or the big kitchen 
in the sky or whatever it is you happen to have a hobby toward. 
That's what it's going to be. It's going to be the great big 
fishing hole in the sky. Don't denigrate heaven, brethren. 
Don't deface heaven with your conception of earthly joys imposed 
in that eschatological state. Christ is all the glory of Emmanuel's 
land. Well, in conclusion, we see first 
the sinfulness of this man. He was a bad guy. He was a bad 
man. He was a criminal that was worthy 
of execution. Jesus never denounces that. Jesus 
doesn't say, this is horrible. The state is inflicting upon 
us capital punishment. Capital punishment is wrong. 
The pacifists are right. No, he doesn't do that. He knows 
what this man is. He knows what this man has done. 
He knows what this man has even said. And nevertheless, This 
man, as sinful as he was, enters into paradise. Secondly, we see 
the glory of the Savior. It's hard to miss that, isn't 
it? Hard to miss the glory of the Savior in this account of 
the thief on the cross. We ought to appreciate the glory 
of the Savior in his person. He assumed our humanity, the 
second person of the triune God, that One who has been from everlasting 
and He will be unto everlasting, that One assumed our humanity. 
He took on our flesh, He took on our bones, He took on our 
blood, He took on everything that makes man, man, yet without 
sin. And in that life, he lived in 
obedience to the Father. We have the glory of the Savior 
in His person. His life of spotless obedience 
to the Father. His life of accomplishing a righteousness 
that avails for all of the people that the Father had given Him. 
We see His work as well. Not only that obedience in His 
life, but this obedience in His death. He's not there for his 
crimes. He's not there for his wrongdoing. 
He's there because of you and me. He's there because of our 
transgression of the law. He's there because of our lack 
of conformity unto it. He goes in our stead, and it's 
that substitutionary atonement that we find here that ought 
to encourage our hearts. Thirdly, you see the sovereignty 
of God. You see the sovereignty of God in this passage, don't 
you? In the first place, you have the sovereignty of God in 
the salvation of the one and in the damnation of the other. 
The other didn't get saved. The other didn't have that assurance 
that today you will be with me in paradise. The other one went 
into everlasting punishment designed for the devil and his angels. 
We have the three men who woke that morning to be crucified, 
Barabbas and his two cronies. Remember, Barabbas got up that 
morning as well. It's a Friday morning. And he 
knew he was going to be executed along with these two others. 
He would have had center stage because it sounds to me like 
he was, in fact, the ringleader, which I think underscores the 
wretchedness of the people even more. I mean, they don't even 
want the alternating thieves. They want Barabbas. the worst 
of them, the one who's actually called a notorious prisoner, 
the very ringleader of the insurrection and rebellion, the one who actually 
pulled the trigger, as it were, the one who was actually guilty 
of murder. The cronies were complicit, but 
the crowd wanted the baddest of them all. That's how wicked 
they were when they said, away with him, away with him, crucify 
him. So we have these three men wake up in the morning and Barabbas 
is released and Jesus takes his spot. Now I'm not suggesting 
that therefore Barabbas was saved. We have no other record of what 
happens to Barabbas. We don't know. But the passage 
or the transaction is emblematic. You have the righteous going 
in the place of the unrighteous. You have the innocent taking 
the place of the guilty. So that these people said, give 
us Barabbas and away with Christ, it underscores that divine transaction 
of God wherein the just one takes the place of the unjust to receive 
in his own person the penalty due for us. So this is a great 
emblem of that transaction. But then you have these two other 
thieves that do go ahead. They have their day in court. They've had their day in court. 
Now they're going to be executed by the civil state. And you've 
got two men on either side. They both start the day blaspheming 
our Lord Jesus. But at some point during the 
day, this change comes upon the one. Matthew Henry says this 
magnifies divine grace as acting in a distinguishing way. These 
two had been comrades in sin and suffering, and yet one is 
saved and the other perishes. Two that had gone together all 
along hitherto, and yet now one taken and the other left. Brethren, 
it is the sovereignty of God. Romans 9, 16, it does not depend 
upon him who wills or upon him who runs, but on God who shows 
mercy. So we ought to respect, we ought 
to understand, and we ought to stand in awe of the sovereign 
grace of God Almighty. We're not in because we're good. 
We're in because God is gracious. We're in because of Ephesians 
1, 4, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of 
the world, that, not because, but that we should be holy and 
without blame. In love, Paul says in verse five, 
having predestinated us onto adoption as sons by Jesus Christ 
our Lord. And then he continues in verse 
six to say, in whom we have redemption through his blood. It is sovereign 
grace that taught our hearts to fear. It is sovereign grace 
that made the distinction. It is sovereign grace that we 
stand in awe of and we praise our God for. And then finally, 
you ought to appreciate in this passage, the power of the gospel. 
The power of the Christian gospel. This man wasn't saved, as I said, 
because he was good, because he had righteousness. He wasn't 
saved because he got baptized. He doesn't get baptized. He's 
the least one guy that's in heaven that never got baptized with 
water. He didn't have any of that. Justification by faith 
alone. And as we reflect upon him and 
as we ponder this truth, realize that we may not be insurrectionists, 
we may not be burning down Portland presently, we may not be guilty 
of the crime of murder, but we're sinners, we're guilty, we're 
vile, we're helpless. In fact, we sang with reference 
to this man. The dying thief rejoiced to see 
that fountain in his day, and there have I, as vile as he, 
washed all my sins away." So you can't say, well, you know, 
this is a unique situation and, you know, I don't know if God 
will take me because I'm so sinful. What's your hope? It's God that 
takes sinners like you and me. Don't procrastinate. Don't put 
this off. Ponder the implications of what 
Ryle did say. One thief was saved that no sinner 
might despair, but only one was saved that no sinner might presume. Paul the Apostle in 2 Corinthians 
6 tells us, Behold, now is the accepted time. Behold, now is 
the day of salvation. cast by grace yourself on the 
mercy of Jesus Christ. Lord, remember me when you come 
into your kingdom. Let us pray. Father in heaven, 
we thank you for your word. We thank you for the glory of 
Jesus Christ and the power of the Christian gospel. We see 
it not only in this thief, we see it in our own hearts, our 
wretched, rebellious lives. We ran from You. We had no fear 
of God before our eyes. There was no righteousness in 
us, no good works, nothing that deserved Your approval. But God, 
in Your grace, You provided the Son of Your love to live, to 
die, and to be raised the third day for guilty sinners like us. I pray that wherever this gospel 
is preached today, the power of the Holy Spirit would attend, 
that He would open eyes and open hearts to receive the truth, 
and to grant the graces of faith and repentance that sinners may 
close with Jesus Christ. And should it be the case that 
any of us end this day, it would be with Christ in paradise. And 
we ask this in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, amen. We'll 
close by singing the doxology of praise to our triune God, 
page 568 in your hymn books. is Perhaps longish for a benediction, 
but one I think fitting and appropriate. A song of ascents. Out of the 
depths I have cried to you, O Lord. Lord, hear my voice. Let your 
ears be attentive to the voice of my supplications. If you, 
Lord, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand? There 
is forgiveness with you, that you may be feared. I wait for 
the Lord, my soul waits, and in His word I do hope. My soul 
waits for the Lord more than those who watch for the morning. 
Yes, more than those who watch for the morning. O Israel, hope 
in the Lord, for with the Lord there is mercy, and with Him 
is abundant redemption. And He shall redeem Israel from 
all his iniquities. Amen. God, thank you that there 
is abundant redemption with you. We know there are men, women, 
boys, and girls from every tribe, tongue, people, and nation that 
will populate the kingdom of heaven. God, I pray that, again, 
as this word goes forth, it would go swiftly, running glorious, 
and many people would, by grace, hear and believe that truth. 
And, Lord, bless and encourage our hearts, strengthen us with 
this prospect of being with Christ in paradise when we breathe our 
last. and we ask this in the name and 
for the glory of our Lord Jesus. Amen. Please be seated for a 
brief time of meditation.