The Thief on the Cross: A Testimony of Sovereign Grace

Puritan Reformed Church Phoenix

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Okay, turn to Turn to Luke 23 and Beginning at verse 32.

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I'm gonna read 32 33 and then 39 to 43 I'm also gonna read from Mark and Matthew, but don't try to turn there.

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We'll be flipping all around. Just hang out I'll read those and then during the sermon if you might hear a lot of Scripture references just jot them down and look them up later or listen to the tape later or something

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This is called the thief on the cross and And we'll be looking at three

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Gospels Please stand and with him they crucify two thieves one on his right hand and the other on his left verse 32

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That Christ the King of Israel descend now from the cross that we may see and believe and they

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Plural That were crucified with him reviled him Okay, Matthew 27 38 and then

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I'll read 43 to 44 Then there were two thieves crucified with him one on the right hand and another on the left 40 43 he trusted in God.

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Let him deliver him now if he will have him for he said I am the Son of God the thieves plural

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Also, which are crucified with him cast the same in his teeth Okay. Now you're ready with Luke 23 32 33 and then 39 to 43

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And there were also two other malfactors Led with them to be put to death And when they had come to the place, which is called

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Calvary they there they crucified him and the malfactors one on the right hand and the other on the left and One of the malfactors which were hanged railed on saying if thou be the

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Christ save thyself and us But the other answering rebuked him saying does not thou fear

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God Seeing thou art in the same condemnation and we indeed justly For we received the due reward of our deeds

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But this man has hath done nothing amiss and he said unto

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Jesus Lord. Remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom and Jesus said unto him verily

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I say unto thee today Thou shalt be with me in paradise

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Please be seated that it's not a contradiction Mm -hmm

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Luke is written after Mark and Matthew and He's giving us additional information.

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He doesn't include the part about both these reviling him So it's not a contradiction.

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It's additional information The story of the salvation of the crucified robber is one of the most amazing records of a conversion in the whole

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Bible This is the last recorded conversion before the death of Christ. It's the last confession of faith of Christ before The death of Christ This section is comforting and encouraging to lost sinners

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It really shows us the amazing compassion love and power of Christ to save It greatly strengthens our faith because it explicitly teaches

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God's sovereign power to save and Jesus willingness and ability to save even

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When he was in agony Dying on the cross When Christ saved the wicked robber he was a spectacle of shame on the brink of death

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Even while our Lord was near the lowest point of his humiliation. He achieved this amazing act of grace in a simple trust

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If a simple trust in the Savior when he was emptied of all his glory and marred beyond recognition can save a wicked murdering

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Robber Then certainly our faith in the resurrected glorified King who sits at the right hand of power is

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Sufficient to save now We're gonna look at four things as we study this section of Scripture four areas And I'm just gonna go

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I had to edit down material So I'm gonna go for about 55 minutes or so, and then I'll wrap it up Number one the character and condition of the robber before his conversion number two

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How this criminal was converted to Christ? Number three the evidence of the evidences of this man's faith and repentance and number four

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What we can learn from our Lord's promise to the penitent thief May God enable us to profit from this amazing section of Scripture.

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It's truly amazing It's in all should be in all capitals of letters of gold that so precious

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Now as we study the conversion of the robber on the cross It is important to note that in God's providence this man was no average everyday sinner

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He was the vilest of the vile the lowest of the low The bottom of the barrel of sinful humanity

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Indeed he was a scum of the earth Who deserved to be put to death? And this point is easily established if we look at the terms used to describe him in the

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Gospels number one The Gospels of Matthew and Mark described the two men crucified as thieves

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King James Version or Robbers New King James the robbers is a is a better translation

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That's the New King James the NASB the RSV and the NIV Although the

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KGV translates the Greek word used Lestes as thief the word robber is a better translation

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We know this because the word for thief is kleptos where we get the word kleptomaniac and The word for robber is a more serious offense than being a thief a robber brigand or bandit as someone who was more than a petty thief

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He has someone who operates as a group of wicked associates who used organized planning and violence to achieve their ends

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They used weapons clubs knives swords At that time now they use guns obviously

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And if you didn't hand it over They'd beat you to a pulp and they might kill you and if you did hand it over They might beat you to a pulp and kill you anyway

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Just like robbers in our day where they rob a 7 -eleven or whatever and they shoot the guy in the head Even though they don't need to that's the kind of person we're talking about And Roman law even distinguished between theft

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Fertum and robbery rapina Which means theft combined with violence?

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Now according to Roman scholar Seth and robbery were not capital crimes in the days of our Lord when he walked the earth now obviously

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Murder was committed during the crime. That'd be a different story Therefore the fact that the robbers received the death penalty can only be explained in one of two ways

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Either these men were guilty of murder when they committed robbery and were convicted of murder along with robbery

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Or It could be interpreted In the sense of an insurrectionist a revolutionary and the

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Greek word is used in both senses Josephus used this word for the

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Jews who are revolutionaries against the Roman government The consensus of modern commentators is that it was very likely that these two robbers were in fact violent revolutionaries who were seized in connection with the insurrection led by Barabbas C mark 15 -7

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Barabbas was the leader of an insurrectionist group revolutionaries And That third cross in the middle of these two was meant in my view for Barabbas he had he had committed murder he was the leader of the group and Pilot thinking

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Christ was innocent knowing he was innocent and thinking that the charges against him brought by the

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Jews was a bunch of rubbish Tried to get out of it thinking well if I exchanged this for that He thought they would they would let

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Jesus go so the cross meant for Barabbas becomes the cross for Christ These men were

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Barabbas accomplices and were awaiting execution with him When Barabbas was released by the

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Jews the Messiah took his place in between these two wicked insurrectionists Now whether or not the criminal on the cross

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Was a violent revolutionary or a murderous brigand. We know that this man was a very wicked man

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He had no regard for human life whatsoever The revolutionaries the zlots

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When they take taken over the temple Before the destruction of Jerusalem they killed most they killed all the righteous priests.

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They committed sacrilege in the temple These were very wicked men Both use groups use violence to secure other people's money and property and both used murder to accomplish their evil deeds

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Robbers would weigh in wait for wait for travelers And then you know the story of the

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Good Samaritan the person was beat up so bad. He couldn't move he was there About to die and the

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Samaritan saves him. That's what they would do We've left him for dead He would leave the dead on the road to be eaten by the birds the wounded would be left to bleed to death and agonize

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Under the hot Sun He was a man totally without morals and without mercy And he is accurately described in Proverbs 1 11 to 13 come with us

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Let us lie and wait to shed blood let us lurk secretly for the innocent without cause let us swallow them alive like shoal and Hole like those who go down to the pit

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We shall find all kinds of possessions. We shall fill our houses with spoil So that's the kind of person we're talking about the scum of the earth deserve to die number two

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Now Luke uses a different word to describe these robbers He's running to a gentile audience primarily refers to them as malfactors and The word malfactor is from the

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Latin or in the New King James criminals The Greek word

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Cacurgus is a compound word consisting of two words kakos evil air -gone work

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Literally he's an evil worker. He lives to commit evil His worldview is evil.

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He wants to do evil That's his worldview and in the context the modern rendering a good rendering would be criminal

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Luke writing to a predominantly gentile audience and wants us to know that the men crucified for Christ were evil thugs They were criminals who spent their life planning and committing evil deeds

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God's law God's moral law and the law of the Roman state meant nothing to these men.

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They could care less He existed to please himself.

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He lived for the moment There was no fear of God before his eyes. Everything existed to satisfy his lusts

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His heart was a heart of stone the loss of property injury to and even the death of an innocent person did not prick his evil heart

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He was a hardened bloodthirsty despicable criminal number three

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But even worse Than everything so far.

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He was also a blasphemer Both Mark and Matthew tell us that this man was mocking

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Jesus before his conversion When the unbelieving crowds were mocking our Lord's helplessness by challenging him to come down from the cross both criminals

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Joined in and they mocked Jesus They cursed him. They laughed at him

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You saved others. You can't save yourself. Who do you think you are? You call yourself a king?

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Their own hopes and aspirations had been foiled so they reproached Jesus for having made even grander plans That had gone unfulfilled in their eyes remember the

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Jews thought the Messiah was going to be this mighty warrior who's going to conquer Roman Persia and Matthew the robber is even mocking the

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Savior's claim to be the Son of God 2744 Before his conversion the robber had a contempt and hatred for Christ He was an avowed enemy of the

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Savior and all that he stood for just like the mocking crowd Just like the Roman soldiers just like the

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Jewish priests and the Jews The contempt shown for Jesus to those gathered about the cross may have encouraged the two others who were crucified to vent their rage upon him and Their eyes

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Jesus was a contempt contemptible caricature of a king of sovereignty and they reproached him they mocked him they made fun of him

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At his darkest hour in his time of extreme humiliation Now at this point in the story, it appears that the just punishments these robbers received only hardened them in their rebellion

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Instead of repenting of their evil they were adding new sins to the old and that's the way unregenerate people are

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It looked as though both men would be fierce impenitent and defiant to the bitter end God and Jesus Christ, however had a different plan

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And this is what's so amazing about our passage. It shows the sovereign power of Christ to save Number four note also that the robber was suffering the just consequences of his crimes

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He was on the cross under the just sentence of death and it's another reason. I think he was probably as a zealot or insurrectionist a revolutionary

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Because Rome didn't care that much about crime, you know murder. They didn't like that but their main thing if you committed insurrection

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There were cases where they would have the road lined for miles of people on crosses Revolutionaries Suffering on the cross was no doubt a terrifying excruciating way to die, but we must keep in mind that the penalty of hell

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Is far more serious and terrifying than even the agony of crucifixion

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Jesus warned us of this in Matthew 10 28 Do not fear those who kill the body, but cannot kill the soul but rather fear him

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Who was able to destroy both soul and body in hell? Our Lord is saying that those who do not know him for those who do not know him

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There is an everlasting future of suffering for both body and soul There's no such thing as annihilationism or the cessation of existence

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But rather those who reject the Savior will spend eternity in the place called the pit of the abyss

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Isaiah 14 15 revelation 9 to the lake of fire revelation 2015 the second death Revelation 2014 21 8 hell 2nd

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Peter 2 for the outer darkness Matthew 25 30 Jude 1 13 those who do not believe in Jesus will suffer everlasting punishment

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Matthew 25 46 everlasting fire Matthew 18 8 everlasting destruction 2nd

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Thessalonians 1 9 eternal fire Matthew 13 40 to 42 revelation 14 10

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Jude 7 torment Bassinas the Greek word for torture Luke 16 23 to 24

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Matthew 24 50 to 51 where there shall be weeping and Gnashing of teeth

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Matthew 24 51. I think you notice that almost every single one of those passages came from the lips of Jesus If this

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Robert did not repent and look to the divine human mediator He would have gone immediately to hell upon death and suffered the resurrection of condemnation

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John 5 29 Now we have a resurrection unto eternal life we get glorified bodies who get to be with Jesus in paradise

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Well, if you're not a Christian, yeah, you have a resurrection and then you're cast into the lake of fire This condemned robber hanging on the cross of execution is a graphic picture

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Of everyone who is not embraced the Lord Jesus Christ by faith This statement is true because every individual apart from their deemers and under the internal sentence of death from Almighty God Jesus said that he who does not believe is condemned already

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John 3 18 God says he who does not believe the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him

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John 3 36 the psalmist says you are not a God who takes pleasure in wickedness nor shall evil dwell with you

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The boastful shall not stand in your sight. You hate all workers of iniquity You shall destroy those who speak falsehood the

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Lord abhors the bloodthirsty and deceitful man 5 4 to 5 and of course 10 Hebrews 10 31 it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of a living

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God This dying feet before his amazing conversion was on the precipice of a

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Christless eternity Without God without hope He was unregenerate

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Weighed with a lifetime of sin and guilt and was in complete bondage to sin and the devil if you're not a

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Christian You need to realize you're not very different than this robber on the cross Yes, it may be true that you are not an insurrectionist.

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Maybe you haven't committed cold -blooded murder Yet you are guilty of sin

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You have lived your life without trusting in Christ or serving Christ And if you died this very moment, you would be cast into hell and forever be separated from our

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Lord's love and presence This very moment you're under the sentence of death and you'd be cast into hell

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But there is hope for you For if Jesus could transform the stony heart of that robber on the cross and completely save him at the his weakest hour

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Then he most certainly can deliver you and pray that God would open your eyes and ears to behold the amazing saving power of God's beloved

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Son He's tortured almost to death. He can't couldn't even carry the cross.

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He had to have help He's a bloody mess. His face has been punched in the face and there he is with almighty power to save Okay, that's part one here's number two second the criminals conversion

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Now in his gospel Luke records that a radical change of mind occurred and one of the robbers crucified with Christ at first both robbers were railing against the

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Savior mocking him making fun of him and casting the same in his teeth Matthew 27 44 mark 15 32, but a time comes

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When the grace of God shines upon his heart The heart of one of the criminals and that man displays an astonishing faith in God's Son This dramatic and obvious conversion raises an important question.

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How was this wicked criminal converted while he hung on the cross? Obviously, there was no sermon or evangelistic message spoken to him while he was dying

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There's no evidence that prayer was given on his behalf or that he received prior instruction by one of our Lord's disciples

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Yet this man repented of his sin believed in Jesus and what is admitted to paradise that very day

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How can we account for this remarkable change of heart? Well to understand what occurred to the penitent thief on the cross.

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There are a number of things to consider Number one and this is quite obvious It is important to note that this man was converted by the sovereign grace of God Only God has the power to turn blasphemers murderers into worshipers

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Only the Holy Spirit could take those hearts of stone that are spiritually dead and turn them into hearts of flesh

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Behold the power of Christ to save salvation is of the Lord Jonah 2 9

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The only biblical way that we can explain such a radical and sincere change in this robber Is the fact that God did something to his heart?

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That no one could see and the Bible refers to the sovereign act of God as being born of the

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Spirit John 3 5 to 6 regeneration Titus 3 5 the

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Greek word pala gentia a new creation Genesis 6 15 having been born again first Peter 1 23 and John 3 3

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I'm making alive with Christ Ephesians 2 5 collagens 2 13 or being begotten by God John 1 13 1st

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John 2 29 3 9 4 7 5 1 4 and 18 This change in man's heart is so radical

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That scripture derives it as a heart of stone becoming a heart of flesh Ezekiel 32 2 or an uncircumcised heart becoming a circumcised heart

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Both of these criminals were equally wicked. Both were equally guilty. Both were equally damned

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Both had the same unbelieving unbiblical blasphemous view of Jesus and the earlier in the early hours of the crucifixion

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That's what the text says Both were spiritually dead and blind as they mocked the

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Savior both Also, I saw her everything related to Christ during the nearly six hours. He hung on the cross

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Yet one died in his sins just as he lived hearted impotent unbelieving evil

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He died just as blind guilty and spiritually dead as he was when the crucifixion began

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But the other robber Was regenerated by the Holy Spirit enlightened and drawn to our

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Lord Therefore he repented believed confessed prayed for mercy and Was saved what an amazing passage

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Now one purpose of this passage is to teach us that conversion is the fruit not the cause of regeneration

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When there are two men of virtually identical character and condition who both are in the exact same circumstances Who have the very same information regarding the

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Savior and one becomes convicted and repents while the other could care less could not care less the only biblical and rational explanation is that God changed one's heart and passed the other by and We see it.

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We see it all the time You have you've witnessed the people or you've been with people and invited them to church

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One guy's weeping and begging Christ for forgiveness and the other guys laughing what like well, you're such a fool

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This means that the regenerating power of the Holy Spirit raises dead hearts Ephesians 2 5 and enable sinners to see her and hear the truth causing them to repent and turn to Christ This beloved is the explicit teaching of Scripture And if you're not preaching this or teaching this you're not preaching the gospel

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Billy Graham his book on being born again And this is what

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Arminians teach being born again is a response God responds to your autonomous act of the will where you express your faith in Christ So God is rewarding you for your act of the will your autonomous act of the will it's totally unbiblical

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First Corinthians 2 12 now we have received not the Spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God in order that We might know the things that have been freely given to us by God Without the spiritual rule, which is purely a gift of God dependent upon nothing that we do.

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No one would turn to Christ Second Corinthians 4 6 4 it is God who commanded that light light to shine out of the darkness who has shown in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ Lydia The seller of purple from Thyatira like the criminal on the cross believe

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God first opened her heart Paul this is what it says here Paul sat down and spoke to the woman who met there now a certain woman named

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Lydia heard Us she was a seller of purple from the city of Thyatira who worshiped God The Lord opened her heart to heed the things by spoken by Paul acts 16 13 to 14

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Our Lord said to Nicodemus that which is born of the Spirit John 3 6 The Holy Spirit came upon one of the criminals and made him a spiritual person drew him to Christ So he could love the

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Savior. He could see who Christ really was even all beat -up and bloody You're the

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Son of God therefore He saw the Blessed Savior with new spiritual eyes and thus this cursing blaspheming and railing rebel became in an instant of time a devout worshiper of Christ It's amazing, isn't it?

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It's amazing The profound truth is that the only way to explain this pervasive radical change and the impenitent these heart

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It's the only way to explain it this truth teaches us to related things first when a sinner is saved

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God alone deserves all the credit and receives all the glory The Bible teaches that faith and repentance are gifts of God John 3 3 to 8 6 45 4 44 45 65

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Ephesians 2 8 Philippians 1 29 2nd Peter 1 2 acts 11 18

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And here's John 6 44 6 and 65. No one comes to me unless the father who sent me draws him No one can come to me unless it has been granted to him by my father

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Now the idea that regeneration is God's response to man's exercise of faith decisionary generation

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Rob's God of his glory It is a heresy a damnable heresy to take the glory away from our loving

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Savior Second The fact that unsaved men can only be changed spiritually and drawn to the

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Savior by the power of God should teach us humility We were spiritually dead

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Ephesians 2 1 2 5 where the heart of stone Ezekiel 11 19 living in spiritual darkness Unable to repent totally helpless spiritually blind

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With a sinful hatred of Christ and it's slave to the prince of darkness with a guilty record and a wicked heart but God While we were his enemies reached out and touched our hearts giving us new spiritual life and Causing us to love his precious son.

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We don't get any glory. We don't get any credit What a glorious salvation

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We love him only because he first loved us first John 4 19 Obviously we have not one thing we can boast about not one thing

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Armenians can be all I was more spiritual than Joe over here. I was wiser He didn't see the gospel like I did he didn't exercise his free will like I did

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No, there's none of that. None of that heretical nonsense If it were not for God's grace, we would be just like that robber who died cursing

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Jesus Without the work of the Holy Spirit upon our hearts we would be just as wicked obstinate unrepentant and full of hatred towards Christ as that impenitent criminal and for this reason and it's talks about this in Revelation 4 10 we're gonna cast our crowns at his pierced feet when we behold him in heaven after our resurrection

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To We need to examine the means used by the Holy Spirit to bring this penitent criminal to Christ Now this is a more difficult topic than regeneration for in regeneration

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God acts Immediately upon the heart without means now There's a broader definition of regeneration that talks about reject when the heart comes in contact with a word the new heart with a word

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However, when it comes to the production of saving faith in the heart and laying hold of Jesus the Bible teaches that something else is necessary as Paul says

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Romans 10 18 faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God James says 1 18 of his own will he brought us forth by the

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Word of truth that we make kind of the first fruits of his creation Under normal circumstances

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People are converted by the preaching of the gospel Sometimes God uses a

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Bible reading Sometimes it's a gospel track or a Christian book. In other words the scriptures teach that the

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Holy Spirit Applies the Word of God to the regenerated heart in the process of conversion

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Therefore a genuine conversion presupposes a certain amount of biblical knowledge regarding the person and work of Christ That's why we catechize our children.

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That's why we witness to others about the wonderful work of Christ Now this teaching raises an important question, which is very fascinating What did the

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Spirit of God used to convert this robber? There's no evidence that he had listened to our

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Lord preacher heard any sermons by the traveling disciples However, it is a distinct possibility. You never know.

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It could be true But even if this robber had never heard Jesus or his disciples preach

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Given his Jewish upbringing and knowledge of the Old Testament scriptures He saw a number of things that could have been used by the

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Holy Spirit to lead him to Christ If the robber could hear the trial of our

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Lord and he was probably there in the dock waiting or already condemned

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Robbers had not been condemned yet. So the three were probably aside. He would have learned not only the major titles for the

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Messiah But also his innocence and righteousness The Jewish leaders publicly accused

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Jesus of making himself a king Matthew 23 2 and our Lord acknowledged that he indeed was a king

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Luke 23 3 and see John 1837 Pilot repeatedly referred to the

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Savior as the king of the Jews Mark 59 John 1839 1915 and even had the inscription.

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This is Jesus of Nazareth the king of the Jews Now he's probably mocking the Jewish leadership because he didn't want to crucify

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Christ. He thought he was innocent, but still that's there Placed above the suffering servants head on the cross and that is recorded in all four

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Gospels Perhaps he thought about the trial and inscription Could this really be the

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Messiah? Could this really be the king of the Jews? This is he who wrought miracles and raised the dead and said he was the

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Son of God. Is it all true? Is he really our Messiah? Then he would remember the words of the

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Prophet Isaiah He was despised and rejected of men a man of sorrows acquainted with grief.

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Surely he hath borne our griefs and carried our sorrows Why he would say to himself, oh I never understood this passage, but it must point to Christ to Jesus The chastisement of our peace is upon him.

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Can this be the one who cried in the Psalms? They pierced my hands and my feet As he looked at him again, he felt conviction creeping over his spirit

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Then he looked again and he marked how all men bow Down below rejected and despised and hissed at him and hooted him had mocked him

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And all this would make the case the more clear and they shall see me all they that see me laugh me to scorn they Shoot out the lip.

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They shake their head saying he trusted on the Lord that he would deliver him Let him deliver him seeing he delighted in him

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You see how the prophecies in the Psalms in Isaiah come to pass perfectly in Christ if he had been taught that as a child

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The Holy Spirit could use that information. That's why it's critical. You catechize your children because you want that in their minds

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Pilate identified Jesus as the Christ Matthew 27 17 and the Jews said that our

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Lord claimed to be the Son of God in John 19 7 Further Pilate who had no axe to grind.

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He was trying to release Jesus But he's a politician. He's not a believer He doesn't care whether an innocent man dies, but he doesn't want to kill him, especially after his wife had that dream

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Said the Savior had not done nothing worthy of death Luke 23 22 and 23 15 had committed no crime

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John 18 38 19 4 and 6 I could not be proven to have done any evil at all

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Matthew 27 23 and more and Luke 23 22 Both Pilate and his wife emphatically declared that the

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Nazarene was a righteous man Matthew 27 19 and 24 if the witness was a

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Thief was a witness to these events. The Holy Spirit could have easily applied this to the heart

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On the way to the cross now remember They're right there with Jesus being led to the cross

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These criminals would have witnessed our Lord's amazing words to the daughters of Jerusalem The robber would have thought about these words.

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Jesus warns these women about the coming destruction in a unique manner He does not speak as the prophets who would say thus says the

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Lord or the Lord says This weakened bleeding man speaks as though he himself both knows and controls the future

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He speaks as the divine judge who rules the universe The robber was right behind our

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Lord as he spoke these sobering words He saw the master warned these unbelieving women with love in his eyes and the frightening truth on his lips

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Hey, don't weep for me. What do you see? What what do you see? What I'm gonna do Jerusalem and the criminal saw something that the

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Holy Spirit would use to pierce his soul He beheld the Savior and interceding for his own people

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There were elect people in the crowd who weren't Christians yet Who are blessed who were mocking and making fun of Christ?

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Father forgive them. They do not know what they do Luke 23 34 one could reasonably expect to see a man falsely condemned scourge beaten mocked and railed upon with insults and Sarcasm to be cursing such a crowd

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But Jesus with his infinite love is even here on the cross interceding for the elect Who out of ignorance are participants in his humiliation and murder

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The robber learned that Christ is compassionate and merciful and he takes a very active role in the saving of sinners

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Amazing Such a man not only dies for the sins of his people, but he also works to apply that wonderful redemption unto them

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Even when they are ethical scum and worthy of the curse of the law and death There's no love like Jesus had

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Jesus had the greatest love ever and Later when the Holy Spirit changed the thief's heart our Lord's prayer would be precious to this robber

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Perhaps you would think this man of sorrows was compassionate loving and kind to his own who were involved in this wicked affair

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He even interceded for them to God as father Therefore I can place my faith in the king who is merciful to sinners and I can ask him to remember me

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When he enters his glorious kingdom Now Obviously his knowledge of the gospel was rudimentary and his appreciation of all that was taking place before him imperfect nevertheless

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The Holy Spirit used it all to such a great effect that this robber would become a teacher of faith and repentance to the whole world this is a precious passage to wicked sinners throughout the last 2 ,000 years and There was even paradoxically a gospel message set forth in the mocking of the chief prescribes and elders.

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They cried out Matthew 27 to 42 and Mark 15 31. He saved others

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Himself, he cannot say the point of the Jewish leaders

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We're trying to set forth before the crowd was that if Jesus cannot save himself from suffering and death Then we should not record claim recognize his claim to be the

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Messiah the Son of God Because what do they believe in they didn't believe in a suffering Messiah they believed in a all -conquering powerful king on a white horse who's gonna slay the

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Romans and the Persians and the Egyptians and Conquer the world. That's what they believed in even the robbers joined in this blasphemous mockery but once the

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Holy Spirit planted a new spiritual life in the heart of that dying criminal and Began to draw him to the Redeemer those words of mockery took on a whole new meaning

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He saved others Perhaps he can save me

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The first rays of hope if he has the power to save others then certainly he can save me hope

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Faith now one thing is clear when we examine this these confession His mockery that spoke of a salvation in terms of merely a physical deliverance from suffering and death was changed by the

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Holy Spirit to a concern for deliverance from spiritual death the deliverance from the guilt and penalty of sin

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He knew he was gonna die The robbers outlook was changed by the

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Holy Spirit from a concern and focus upon this world to the world to come The words that the crowd cast in the

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Savior's teeth as mockery became precious gospel truths to the dying sinner You may pick a precious diamond from a dunghill you wash it off and its radiance is just as nice as a precious diamond ever was and you may gather the gospel from a blasphemous mouth and it shall more or less the gospel of salvation even though it is

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Well, remember the high priest he has to die for the nation. It's better than he dies for the nation They speak what they do not understand yet.

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It's the truth as the dying criminal was on the cross the

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Holy Spirit convicted him of the profound truth that in order to save his people Jesus could not save himself and What is that beloved that is substitutionary atonement?

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He died He suffered your sin guilt and liability of punishment was imputed to him on the cross reckoned to him on the cross

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Judicially by God the Father and that is why you won't go to hell he went to hell for you if Christ was to fulfill his mission, then he had to die on the cross as a propitiating sacrifice unto

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God and As we sail see in the examination of the robbers confession He believed that our

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Lord's death was not in vain not useless or a defeat rather. He looked to it as a victory

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That ushered in the Messianic Kingdom Beloved we must never underestimate or doubt our savers ability to save even the most wicked and despicable of criminals remember

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Paul Who is Paul? He was the ringleader of a people who went around murdering and arresting

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Christians and throwing them in dungeons He was guilty of murder and what did God Christ do to Paul?

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He's the greatest evangelist in the greatest of Apostles who ever lived the

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Spirit of God took the information that this robber had regarding the master and so convicted and converted his heart

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That he went from being a blasphemer to a worshiper and only a short period of time He displayed astonishing faith by committing himself in his salvation to the protection of Christ While he saw him

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Ravaged shredded bloody near death that is faith Now, let's look and somebody just raise your hand when

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I get to 55 evidences of the criminals faith and repentance When a person is truly converted to Christ there will be fruit doctrinally and morally

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Or evidences that demonstrate repentance and saving faith as James says faith of that works is dead to 20

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Now what is particularly interesting about Luke's record of the stone robbers interaction with Jesus is the clear and abundant evidence of his conversion

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And this is especially amazing when we keep in mind that he was literally nailed to a cross Very unpleasant when you're hanging on a cross

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You have to struggle to breathe. It's really hard to breathe and they would pull themselves up and catch a breath

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That's why when they were getting impatient and the Sun was gonna go down they would break their legs He couldn't it made it harder because he could push yourself up now.

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It made it harder. He was never baptized

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He never attended church. He was never able to use his hands or feet to do any good works and We learned solely of this man's faith from his lips

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For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks Matthew 1234 and there are a number of distinct evidences of the robbers conversion to examine first He came to our

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Lord's defense and rebuking his partner in crime Luke 23 40 then one of the criminals who were hanged

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Blasting him saying if thou are the Christ save yourself in us But the other answering rebuking saying do you not even fear

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God? Seeing you under the same condemnation Now this is amazing statement for somebody who not long before was blessed, you know ridiculing

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Christ He was joining in the railing and now

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Note how the statement is rich in theological meaning The robber emphatically rebukes his fellow sinner for not fearing

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God by his behavior This implies that there was now a fear of God which restrained him

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From following the multitude to do evil. He didn't care what the crowd thought anymore. He didn't care what his comrade thought

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How dare you insult Christ? How dare you make fun of my Savior? In Fact he now feared

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God so much that he would not even allow Any person to mock God in his presence the dying criminal had been changed by the

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Holy Spirit And now he no longer cared about what the world thought or what the crowd said, but his chief concern was what

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God thought With his new heart of flesh came a love for God in Christ And he could not bear to hear his old comrade making fun of his precious

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Savior this penitent criminal had a radical change of mind a complete about -face regarding his view of God and the

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Redeemer and he publicly and Dramatically retracts all his earlier unbelieving statements and takes his place besides Jesus Now Luke probably got all this information there.

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The women were there John was there John was kind of back farther All the disciples had fled but Mary the mother of Jesus and the women who followed

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Jesus were there and they witnessed all this The penitent robbers rebuke presupposes that all such blasphemous comments toward the

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Redeemer will have their due recompense of reward after death and that every sinful remark will have will be answerable to God and the gist of his rebuke is

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Look, don't you have any fear of God at all? You were under the sentence of death and are about to be ushered into the very presence of Almighty God It is not is it not time to stop following the wicked crowd when you know that the

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Nazarene is righteous and innocent in The moment when all voices are raised against Christ from both the political and religious leaders of the

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Jews and the Romans The scholars the Roman executioners the large body of onlookers

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This criminal displayed an astonishing loyalty to the Savior This malfactor is the last man who before the death of Jesus disposes a testimony a public testimony in honor of Jesus Public testimony

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Don't you say something against my Savior I love him I believe him how dare you insult the

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Savior Who do you think you are? This public expression of faith and loyalty is a blessed example to every

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Christian Do we remain silent when relatives fellow students or co -workers mock our

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Lord and his Holy Word in? Our decaying wicked degenerate culture.

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Is it not crucial for believers to call sin a sin and rebuke it? If Christians who claim to believe in the inerrancy and perfection of Scripture are unwilling to rebuke sin, then who's gonna do it?

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Nancy Pelosi's not gonna do it The Democrats aren't gonna do it Republicans. Most of them don't care

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The secular humanists sodomite perverts baby murdering feminists certainly won't Yet a great and many professing

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Christians in our day Not only refuse to do their duty to be a salt and light to culture but also are quick to condemn those who are attempting to take a public stand for Christ and his law word and That's why this church is so special Yeah, we're not a big meg.

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It's not a big mega church. It's not flashy But thank God you preach Christ over the nation's thank

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God, you don't bow the knee to corruptions and worship Do you not know that a person who is silent when a wrong thing is said or done may become a participant in that sin?

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If you do not rebuke sin, I mean, of course on all fit occasions and in the proper spirit

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Your silence will give consent to sin and you will be an aider and a better of sin second

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The robber acknowledges sin is in guilt Do you not even fear

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God seeing or under the same condemnation and we we indeed justly for we received the due reward of our deeds

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The one crucial element of repentance is that we have a change of mind regarding our sin and we acknowledge that our sins

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Are sinful they're wrong. We're guilty. They're against God's throne. They're against God's holiness

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There must be an honest acknowledgment of our sin and guilt before God and this is precisely

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What occurred with a criminal on the cross as the robber and insurrectionist he justified his sinful behavior by various excuses

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Like Hamas when they murdered innocent Jews and burned babies in ovens and murdered women and raped them. He did the same thing

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Oh, they're oppressing us. It gives us the right to kill people. No, it doesn't God's laws absolute

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Perhaps he believed that his unlawful actions would lead to a greater good the liberation of Palestine He may have measured reason that as an insurrectionist.

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He was involved in a just war Therefore he admitted murder and robbery.

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He He his comrades justified them by their unique circumstances in any case

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Before he had lived out a worldview that justified killing the innocent and taking their goods But now the

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Holy Spirit changed his heart All that self -justification and excuse -masing disappears he begins to see his sin as God sees it no more excuses

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And he now loathes his sins. He despises it his past Lifestyle is warfare not against Rome, but against the thrice.

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Holy God He acknowledges that he deserves to die for what he done and he freely admits that God's wrath against his sin is just True repentance

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Acknowledges the justice of God in all the punishments of sin He had abandoned a spirit of human autonomy and ethics and has accepted the biblical teaching that the law of God is holy just and Good Romans 7 12.

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He laid down the weapons of his warfare With God and said Lord, I acknowledge my transgressions and my sin is always before me against you

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You only have I sinned and done evil in your sight. It's on 51 3 2 4 There is no more certain sign of an effectual work of the

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Holy Spirit of God that a readiness on the sinners part to accept and acquiesce and whatever

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God's punishment may be He puts his mouth in the dust and says thou art righteous

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O God that doest this Wherefore doth a living man complain a man of the punishment for a sin?

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lamentations 339 Hope how profound the conviction how unreserved upon his part the confession of sin

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Yeah, there's a lot of evidence of true conversion here. This Roberts Repentance reminds us that genuine faith is always accompanied by repentance

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We cannot expect to be saved from our sins if we do not acknowledge the awful evil of our transgressions

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Admitting our guilt and Endeavoring not to continue in sin that God hates we pick up our cross daily.

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We deny ourselves We say no to the world.

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We say no to the flesh We say no to the devil no more If a person has a very light view of sin and intends to continue it then he has no reason to believe that he is

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A child of God Let us beware of repentance without evidences. Remember John the baptizer

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The Pharisees come to him. I'm not gonna baptize you guys. He knew they were wicked. He knew there were thieves stealing

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Bring forth fruits meat for repentance There are multitudes of professing

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Christians today who have accepted the unbiblical the diabolical Doctrine that repentance is not necessary for salvation.

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I was taught that at one time Well, it is true that we are saved solely by Christ apart from the works of the law

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Nevertheless true faith is always accompanied by repentance You're justified solely by God.

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It's an act of God a judicial declaration in the heavenly court based on the righteousness of Christ But once you're justified

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Now you're sanctified Romans chapter 6 third The criminal openly confessed the innocence of the

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Savior Do you not even fear God seeing you are under the same condemnation and we indeed justly for we see the due reward of our deeds

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But this man has done nothing wrong the word of miss King James or wrong new

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King James at the pass is compounded of alpha negative and tapas place

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Therefore it literally means out of place The criminal is not simply asserting that our

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Lord is not guilty of any crime. He's asserting. He's not guilty of any sin This is the sinless

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Messiah the sinless lamb of God the lamb without spot and without blemish the perfect substitute for sin

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Consequently the robber with his half -dead mangled body racked with pain Relied in the grace of Christ and confessed his faith in the righteousness of the

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Redeemer the Holy Spirit enlightened his mind to know the beauty and perfection of the

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Lamb of God who is without spot and without blemish here the robber publicly rebukes the whole nation of Israel and Testifies that Jesus died as an innocent man

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When all other voices were silent one suffering Penitent spoke out and said this man has done nothing amiss he is the sinless

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Son of God and Luke repeatedly emphasizes Christ's innocence in chapter 23.

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It's he's declared to be innocent four times Because our Lord had to be sinless for a sacrifice to be efficacious as an expiation for the sins of the world note

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The excellent example of the penitence confession and faith first. He acknowledges that he is sinful and guilty and has nothing to offer

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God His whole life in the sight of God is nothing but a stinking pile of rubbish

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He has nothing in his hand to bring nothing to offer God nothing not one thing then he looks away from himself to the righteousness of Christ and Every person must be saved in the exact same manner as that penitent robber first We must acknowledge that we are sinful and guilty before God and that we have nothing in ourselves

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To offer that merits salvation or that can approach to God or is acceptable to God The natural man is enmity against God and cannot do anything that pleases

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God He just said in Luke 17 10 when you think you've done something good

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I'm paraphrasing obviously Say no, we are unworthy servants We have guilty records and corrupt hearts and we need to be saved from what we have done and what we are

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Second we need to look for Christ for salvation We must believe that our sins were placed upon the

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Savior on the cross Like the penitent criminal. We must have a childlike faith in what the Nazarene accomplished and then fourth

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The criminal makes a request or praise to Christ Then he said to Jesus Lord.

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Remember me when you come into your kingdom first 42 This short prayer is remarkable

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For its depth of theological truth and it contains a number of memorable elements number one You notice he addresses

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Jesus as Lord and that's just not a polite form of address here He acknowledges that Jesus is the

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Messianic King and the Son of God This prayer presupposes the deity of Christ the petition is worded as if he felt only let

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Christ think of me and it is enough let him remember me and The thought of this mind will be effectual for everything that I shall need in the world to come

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This is to impute Godhead to Christ if Jesus were just a prophet You couldn't pray you couldn't make a request like that.

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It'd be totally worthless With the eyes of faithless robber saw the master as one who could would soon be seated at the right hand of God Here's what

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Calvin says I know not since the creation of the world that there ever was a more remarkable and striking example of faith and So much the greater admiration is due to the grace of the

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Holy Spirit of which it affords. So Magnus magnificent a display a robber Who not only had not been educated in the school of Christ, but by giving himself up to Excruciating murders had endeavored to extinguish all sense of what was right

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Suddenly rises higher than all the Apostles and the other disciples whom the Lord himself had taken so much pains to instruct

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And not only so he adores Christ as king while on the gallows Celebrates his kingdom in the midst of shocking and worse than revolting abasement and declares him when dying to be the author of life end of quote

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The Bible is obviously the Word of God and number two the penitent criminal asked

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Jesus to remember him when he enters his kingdom this short request reveals a strong and sturdy faith and a number of important biblical truths

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It obviously assumes that there's life after death Remember him when he enters his kingdom this short request reveals a strong sturdy faith the life of the soul continues after death

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Physical death does not mean the end of our existence Further the robber has an understanding that in the world to come there is punishment for the wicked and a reward for those who believe in Christ Lord, I believe in you.

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I trust in your power to save remember me as you sit on your throne of glory The robber understands that in the world to come it is the crucified

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Savior who determines our place He knows that Christ is the judge of all mankind This criminal looks to the

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Lord as the gate of heaven and he places himself upon the bosom of Jesus knowing that the

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Redeemer is his only hope of life in life and death and He believes that to be remembered by the master means that he has a favorable relationship with him

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This remembering is not simply an intellectual affair, but it means that he has a favorable relationship

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It involves thinking upon with love the penitent robber is looking to his relationship with Christ as his only hope and entering the kingdom of heaven and this amazing request shows us the power of the

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Holy Spirit to illuminate the mind and turn ignorant criminals into brilliant theologians in the space of a few hours

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It's mind -boggling The penitent robbers request reveals a biblical understanding of the mediators kingdom.

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What did the Jews think at that time? Why do they reject Christ so much they were looking for somebody to come on a white horse and be a conquering hero

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Like, you know, David was a warrior They looked at all the passages about conquest

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They didn't look at the suffering servant passages and there's a lot of them They just ignored him this dying criminal places his trust in a dying

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Messiah a king under the dark cloud of humiliation Thus we see in this man a spirit -given Perception that the kingdom of God came by the bloody cross of Christ and not the blood -stained sword of revolution

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This robber now embraced the doctrine of the kingdom. That was the very opposite of his old opinion The Holy Spirit turned a violent cruel insurrectionist into a humble servant of the crucified

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King And is this not proof that with God all things are possible You're thinking well, there's no hope for me

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Look what I've done Well, if God can save him he can certainly save you Note also that the great humility

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Five more minutes in this prayer the penitent criminal does not ask for any great privilege in the kingdom

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He doesn't have to be seated at the right hand of Jesus. He knows that he does not deserve any place of honor He simply wants to be remembered

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He is not concerned with golden streets pearly gates and bejeweled crowns. He wants the heart and love of the mediator

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Oh Lord, just think of me with your loving heart Remember that I believe in you.

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I trust in your precious blood. The only thing I want Lord is to be with you and Beloved that's the best part of heaven and that's the worst part of hell the greatest essence

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The greatest definition of hell is separation from God The greatest blessing of heaven is to be in the presence of God.

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There's nothing that could compare with that nothing Lord remember us and we shall be safe Think of us and we shall be secure intercede for us poor sinners who are burdened with a sense of sin and we shall dwell with you forever

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Master you have promised us saying the one who comes to me. I will by no means cast out we have come and placed our trust in you and your precious blood and sinless life and we will rejoice that you have given us sonship and Eternal life and I think

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I'll stop there I have a very lengthy section our Lord's promised to the penitent criminal and we see that The moment you die if you're a

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Christian you're in paradise the very moment you die Now your body's in the grave.

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It awaits the resurrection But the moment you die your soul's with Christ you're in paradise the very moment you die

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But we'll stop there. So I hope you see The scripture is amazing, isn't it?

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It's just mind -boggling the power of Christ to save this scum of the earth and He can save anyone he wants to and he does

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Let us pray Father we thank you so much for our precious Savior and what he's done We thank you so much that you have given us passages like this

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To strengthen our faith in your power your love your compassion toward us

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Forgive us Lord for doubting you forgive us Lord for doubting our salvation and Strengthen our hearts to be more obedient covenantally faithful to your holy word in appreciation for what you have done