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.

Opening Prayer

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.

Introduction

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.

Conversion of the Thief

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.

The Thief's Situation

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

The Change in the Thief

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,

Concern for Others and Fear of God

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.

Owning Personal Guilt

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

Acknowledging Christ's Sinlessness

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.

The Thief's Faith in Christ

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.

Graciousness of the Savior

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.

The Willingness of the Savior

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

The Savior's Assurance of Paradise

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.

With Christ in Paradise

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.

Application

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.

Closing Prayer

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.

Scripture References

• Numbers 21:8-9
• Psalms 130
• Jeremiah 32:40
• Matthew 26:55; 27:16; 27:38; 27:44
• Mark 10:46-52; 15:7; 15:27
• Luke 18; 23:18; 23:32; 23:39-43; 23:46
• John 1:29; 6:37; 18:40
• Romans 3:18; 9:16
• 2 Corinthians 5:19; 6:2
• Ephesians 1:4-7
• Hebrews 7:26; 9:22
• 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18
• Revelation 21:1-4; 21:22-27; 22:1-5