Lessons from the Thief on the Cross

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I'd like for us to look at a wonderful, glorious story, a story that's so simple even a child can understand it.
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It's actually about a believing repentant thief that died on the cross of Calvary next to Jesus.
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There was another thief as well that rejected our Lord. And it's almost as you see
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God in His sovereignty was hardening one heart, and He was showing compassion and softening another heart.
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That's what Scripture actually says. You hear so many people in this day of age, even in churches, say, well,
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I've got a choice, and I've looked in commentators on this story, and they say one chose
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Jesus and the other one rejected Him. And even though one did reject Him, when it comes right down to it, it was
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God showing mercy to one and hardening to the other. Actually, if you look at, you don't have to turn there, but as Brother Keith was talking about from that wonderful text he shared with us from Malachi, and as I was looking down, as he mentioned,
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God says, I've loved you, says the Lord. You say, in what way have you loved us?
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Was not Esau Jacob's brother? You notice, says the
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Lord? Yet Jacob I have loved, but Esau I've hated. That's God speaking.
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And so many people get caught up in, why did
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God hate Esau? Really, the question is, why did God love Jacob? Why does
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God love us? And that's what we're looking at today, folks, is the great love of God in Christ Jesus.
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We're going to look at some lessons here, and we're going to go to the cross. I tremble every time we go there, because of who died there.
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Even though we're going to be looking at the thief, the repentant thief, our eyes are upon the
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Savior. Keep in mind that Jesus said in Luke 19 .10,
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after Zacchaeus climbed a sycamore tree to see Jesus, Jesus made this statement.
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As the Pharisees was looking on, this was a tax collector and a wicked man.
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Jesus said, salvation has come to your house today. He said something else that strikes a blow to man's pride.
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For the Son of Man has come to seek to save that which was lost.
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Now, this is the story of that, and I want you to keep that verse before you.
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So go with me, please, and open your Bibles to the Gospel of Luke. Luke's Gospel, and we will begin with verse 32 and read to verse 43.
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Now, I'm going to tell you what I'm going to do today. I'm just going to highlight just a few points. This is not going to be an exhaustive exposition.
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It makes me think of there's a larger catechism, and there's a shorter catechism.
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Well, today you're going to get the shorter. There's much, much more here, okay?
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But I'm going to pray that the Holy Spirit, which is the real Teacher, opens up your hearts and mine as well to see these great gems.
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So I'm not going to give you the larger exposition. I'm going to give you the shorter. We're going to have communion today, and that's another reason why.
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But we're going to summarize it up, and we're just going to highlight just a few points.
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So I'm reading from the New King James Version, and we'll begin with verse 32.
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Verse 32 says, There were also two others, criminals, led with him to be put to death.
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And when they had come to the place called Calvary, they crucified Him. Notice the focus is on Jesus.
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They crucified Him. And the criminals, one on the right hand and the other on the left.
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Verse 34, Then Jesus said, Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do.
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They divided His garments and cast lots. And the people stood looking on, and even the rulers with them sneered, saying,
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He saved others. Let Him save Himself, if He is the Christ, the
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Chosen of God. The soldiers also mocked
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Him, coming and offering Him sour wine, and saying,
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If you are the King of the Jews, save yourself. And in Scripture, here's the first gospel tract, folks.
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And in Scripture also was written over Him in letters, in Greek, Latin, and Hebrew, This is the
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King of the Jews. Then one of the criminals who were hanged, blasphemed
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Him, saying, If you are the Christ, save yourself and us. Almost the same kind of accusation.
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But the other answered and rebuked Him, saying, Do you not even fear
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God, seeing you are under the same condemnation?
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Notice what he says, We indeed justly, justly, for we receive the due reward of our deeds, but this man has done nothing wrong.
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And then he said to Jesus, Lord, remember me when
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You come into Your kingdom. Jesus said to him, Assuredly, I say to you,
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Today, you will be with Me in Paradise. Let's bow in prayer, please.
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Our Father, and our wonderful Savior, and our
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Lord, speak. Speak, Lord, to us.
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For You have spoken through Your Son, for Your servant hears.
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For Your glory, in Jesus' name I pray. Amen. When seeking what we can learn from the thief on the cross, we should be remembering that at the time of Jesus' crucifixion, there are two thieves, as I said, that were crucified beside Him.
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And both began their time on the cross by mocking and blaspheming our
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Lord. Other accounts give this, as did many of the other spectators, as we read.
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But by the grace and sovereignty of God, one of the thieves that responded in true belief and true faith.
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And we see here the very elements of salvation that has come to Him in that day.
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As our Lord died a death that was more than any other death that anyone else has ever died.
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Because He was the spotless Lamb of God that was ordained before this world started rolling into existence.
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In faith, He believed Christ for His salvation. And beloved, the
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Scripture tells us in that very day, Jesus took Him to paradise. J .C.
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Ryle calls this, and I really encourage each and everybody here to read his chapter.
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It's a chapter from the holiness of God. There's excerpts of different sermons, I would say, or writings that he put together and they compiled it to one book, holiness.
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It's one of the classics of all time. But J .C. Ryle called this conversion of this thief on the cross
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Christ's greatest trophy. I love that, don't you? We're going to see today why this is
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Christ's greatest trophy. At the beginning of that writing,
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J .C. Ryle says this, there are a few passages in the New Testament which are more familiar to men's ears than the verses which head this chapter.
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They contain the well -known story of the penitent thief. And it is right and good that these verses should be well -known.
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Ryle says, they have comforted many troubled minds, they have brought peace to many uneasy consciences, they have been a healing balm to many wounded hearts, and they have been a medicine to many sin -sick souls.
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They have smoothed down not a few dying pillows, and wherever the gospel, wherever the gospel of Christ is preached, they will always be honored and loved and had in remembrance, end quote.
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Amen, so true, so true. I could not help but think as we've been looking at assurance of the believer in 2
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Peter, this story came to my mind.
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It's one of the greatest stories I believe we would ever read on assurance of salvation. I don't believe anything tops it.
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Like I said, we're going to highlight some certain things and we're going to then look at a conclusion and then we're going to go to the Lord's Supper.
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So we go to Calvary. We go to the cross and behold the
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Lamb of God and look upon Him as God by His Spirit would teach us the truth and the lessons to be observed for an encouragement to benefit our souls on this very day.
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So as we look into this wonderful text today as we read from Luke, Luke 23, and we go to Calvary's cross, so our eyes of faith is really on our great
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Savior. As the Hebrew writer, the writer to the Hebrews says, looking unto
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Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith. Doesn't that say everything?
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We dare not put our eyes on men even though the story is here by the providence of God.
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This really happened in history 2 ,000 years ago. We look to Jesus.
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We look to Jesus from the moment of our conversion up until the moment we look to Jesus in eternity.
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We will forever look to Jesus. Our eyes are upon Him because He's more than life to us.
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He's more than anything else to us in this world. So we look to our great
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Savior. We will observe the great lessons around Him so we will see two thieves on the two crosses, two responses, and one great
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Savior. One great Savior. Jesus Christ, the crucified, the suffering servant.
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And as the inscription says, this is the King of the Jews. This is the
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King. Pilate, the governor, a heathen governor, wrote that.
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And even the Jewish people said, don't write that. He says, what I've written,
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I've written. That's by the providence of God. I'm telling you, we're going to see
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God's providence here at the conversion of this believing thief.
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So we see with an attitude of awe, inspiring intercession, that we saw that in verse 34,
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Jesus prayed. The first words is a prayer.
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As they crucified Him, and He said, Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do.
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What an intercession. All inspiring intercession. There's an angry rejection, and there's an amazing reception.
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Now let us find blessed assurance in our Lord Jesus as we behold the cross of Calvary.
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Notice verse 32 with me. We'll begin there, and like I said, I'm not going to go through every verse, but I'm going to highlight some certain things.
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Verse 32 says, there were also two other criminals that led with Him to be put to death.
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Led with Him to be put to death. The old authorized King James Version says, there were also two other male factors.
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Male factors led with Him to be put to death. We need to understand that these two thieves, known as robbers, were perhaps insurgents, insurrectionists.
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They were more than just thieves. They were rebels against the
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Roman rule. And mere thieves in that day were not usually crucified.
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So these men had, the Scripture says, yes, they're robbers, male factors, but basically they're insurrectionists.
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Commentators suggest that these men, and I think this is a good suggestion, that these men that were being crucified were probably cohorts of Barabbas.
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That's a very good suggestion. Because you know, as the story says, they released
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Barabbas and Jesus was crucified. This was all in the providence and sovereignty of God.
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Because if Jesus was released, He would have never been crucified. And salvation would have never come.
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Paul mentions that in 1 Corinthians. If they'd known that this was the Prince of Glory, they would have never crucified
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Him. So this was in the mind of God, and it was ordained of God, because God knew that this was going to happen.
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He didn't have to, but God ordained it. I don't know about you, but when
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I think about it, it staggers my imagination. That this is
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Almighty God, the second person of the Godhead, that was sent from the Father to come to this world to seek and save the lost, and save sinners from sin.
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Now, we see our Lord, the suffering servant, crucified with these two rebels, these two thieves.
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Isaiah 53 verse 9 says this, And they made His grave with the wicked, but with the rich at His death, because He had done no violence, nor was any deceit in His mouth.
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And if you read the latter part of Isaiah 53 verse 12, it says, And He was numbered.
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Get that. He was numbered with the transgressors. And He bore the sin of many.
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This is the sin bearer. He took it upon Himself, the
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Holy One, that knew no sin. And sin was foreign to Him. He bore the sin of many.
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And He made intercession for the transgressors. So we see our
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Lord, the suffering servant, as Isaiah 53 speaks of, numbered with the transgressors.
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He made intercession for the transgressors. And what a great
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Savior is Jesus our Lord. The first lesson I'd like for us to look at, and like I said, there's many more, but I want to just highlight some here.
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The first lesson I think is the most important, as we learn, is that the repentant thief recognizes
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Jesus' power, His power and willingness to save.
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That's everything. Isn't it? Isaiah 63 .1
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says, Who is this who comes from Edom? Listen to the question.
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Who is this that comes from Edom with dyed garments from Bezorah? This one who is glorious, adorned in His apparel, traveling in the greatness of His strength.
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Yes. Oh my, I'm telling you. God is asking the question like an all -wise parent.
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He wants our attention, and that's what good parents do there to their children. They ask a question when something is important, and the parent already knows the answer.
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So God is doing this. He asks the question, Who is this one who comes glorious, adorned in His apparel, traveling in the greatness of His strength?
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God answers, I who speak in righteousness, mighty to save.
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Don't you love that? He's mighty to save. We need to not forget this as we tell our lost loved ones about Jesus, that Christ is mighty to save.
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They're in bondage to sin, and once were we as well, and yet He causes the dead to come to life.
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Light comes to darkness and raises the newness of life.
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That's the power of the gospel. Beloved, this is the very reason our Lord came. As I said earlier,
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He came to seek and to save that which was lost. To save sinners.
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I like what Spurgeon says, Just enough to make us savable, but to save us. Didn't Matthew say that?
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Thou shalt call His name Jesus. For He shall save His people from their sins.
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From our sins. He saved us out from it. What is this today?
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They call them churches, but they're not real churches. For the real church means called out ones.
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And yet there are so called churches today that are still in their sins, practicing sodomy, practicing homosexuality, practicing adultery, practicing sin, and yet they get up and play church and God says,
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I will not receive them. But yet when God calls sinners and He saves sinners,
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He calls them to repentance. To believe the gospel and to save them from this wretched life.
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That's the power of the gospel. Now think of it. The thief here was on the very brink of hell itself.
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And I think of that God saved him and snatched him from the very brims and fire of hell.
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He was on the brink of hell. He was nailed to a cross. He was suffering. A just punishment by the way.
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A just punishment for breaking the laws against Rome as an insurrectionist.
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He lived a wicked life. He seemed to die a wicked state for it at least for a moment.
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And he even railed on the Lord like the other thief for a short time. But as time passed, as we read the scriptures, he seemed lost, he seemed gone, he seemed past of recovery.
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This robber was a very, very wicked man. And God is angry with the wicked every day, isn't
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He? But yet right there at a distance there was the
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Savior. Mercy and justice and all kissed each other and there the
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Savior was ready to save him. And we're going to see this. And this robber again was wicked.
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But notice with me what happens in verse 39 and 40. Then one of the criminals who were hanged, blasphemed him and saying, if you are the
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Christ, save yourself and us. He was basically repeating what he heard from verse 35.
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He saved others, let him save himself. If he is the Christ, chosen of God. Others, even the soldiers also mocked him.
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Verse 36, coming and offering him sour wine. And then in verse 37, if you are the king of the
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Jews, save yourself. And then in verse 40, but the other.
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This is the believing thief. Answering, rebuked him. Rebuked the one that was railing accusations and he was doing it at first.
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And then it's like he stops. This man has a turning point. Do you not even fear
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God? Seeing you are under the same condemnation.
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Now this is a wicked man. He is dying on a cross. He's nailed to the cross next to the
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Savior. Verse 41, and we indeed justly for our received the dear reward of our deeds, but this man has done nothing wrong.
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This leads me to my next point. And this is a very important one. We cannot miss this because this is critical.
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First we see that, that God is willing to save sinners. Christ is power and His willingness to save.
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He's willing to save. He's not only able to save, He's willing to save. Isn't that great?
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He desires to see people into the kingdom. And what do we see?
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The next point. We learn that this repentant thief understood who he really was before God.
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This is so critical. He had a right knowledge of who he really was.
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And we will see, he had a right knowledge of who Jesus really was.
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We're going to go to that point next. But let's first look at, he had the right knowledge of who he really was.
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He was guilty. He was ruined. He was helpless.
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A guilty sinner, vile and wicked, as verse 41, and we indeed justly, notice what he says, justly, in other words, we deserve it.
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We deserve this death. For we receive the dear reward of our deeds.
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In other words, this is what we deserve. He was telling this other thief this.
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And Jesus was hearing this the whole time. This conversation. There was these conversations going on while the three of them was nailed.
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And the one in the middle is the one we're looking at, right? But the conversation was going, that one thief across to the other.
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And then he says, but this man, I love how the text puts man, not in the small italics of man,
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M, but the capital M. This is the man. This man has done nothing wrong.
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Now he had a true knowledge of who he was, guilty and vile.
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This repentant thief recognized his own guilty state before a holy God. He recognized the pure innocence of Jesus.
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Beloved, I'm telling you, this is the very element of true repentance. Recognition.
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Notice, there was recognition of who he really was, recognition of who Jesus really was. Then he made a confession.
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There was a confession. And then there was an acknowledgement of his own personal guilt before God.
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Jesus mentions about confession. There's a place for it. After one is coming to faith and believing, the confession
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Jesus says, if you confess me before man, I'll confess you before the Father. But if you don't confess me,
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I'm not going to confess you. So he really had the eternal perspective. And we're going to look later, how did he have this?
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Had to be the Spirit of God. But there was means of grace as well that God allowed at that moment.
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So there was a right acknowledgement of his own personal guilt before God, before the holiness of God, just like the prodigal son.
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Doesn't it remind you of the prodigal son in Luke 15? Listen to verse 18. The prodigal says,
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I will rise and go to my father. I will say to him, Father, I've sinned against heaven.
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I've sinned against you, before you. Didn't David say that? This sin
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I've committed is before you and you alone. The person that's converted to Jesus Christ, this is the way he comes into the kingdom.
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He recognizes he's sinned before God. Just like the repentant tax collector
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Jesus mentioned, who cried out and beat his breast. He didn't say these long prayers like the
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Pharisees did. He said, God be merciful to me, a sinner. Be merciful to me, a sinner.
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And what did Jesus say? He says, I tell you, this man went down to his house justified.
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And you know, this is what's taking place with the thief on the cross. There's justification that's taking place in heaven.
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God's declaring this man righteous. Now, he didn't know about the doctrine of justification by faith, but he sure looked to Jesus.
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And all through the means of grace and the Holy Spirit, and all that was taking place there brought him into the kingdom.
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It was the Spirit of God that was doing this work. It wasn't something that all of a sudden he thought, oh wow,
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I got it all together and I'm going to do this and this and this. This man was in pain. He was desperate.
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He was humbled. He was broken. He was crushed. But he knew something about the one in the middle, the man in the middle.
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Jesus says, for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled. He who humbles himself will be exalted.
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That's how salvation happens. I tell you, beloved, this repentant thief was humbling himself.
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He was humbling himself. And some people say, well, he was hanging on a cross, so was the other.
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The other one rejected him. The other one hardened his heart. But God the
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Holy Spirit was drawing this one in. But yet he was humbling himself because he was humbling himself before the
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Savior. Oh, I tell you, beloved, he gives recognition of the pure innocence of the holiness of Jesus.
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He recognized who Jesus really was. He recognized first his own personal guilt, but he recognized who
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Jesus really was, that Jesus was without sin. He was innocent. He was pure.
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Hebrews 7 .26 says, for such a high priest was fitting for us.
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Listen to that, for us. I put my place, myself, in the place of this thief.
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This repentant thief. And then the writer of Hebrews says, who is holy, harmless.
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You know what that word harmless means? Innocent. Undefiled. Separate from sinners.
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Separate from sinners. And notice what he says, and has become higher than the heavens. All glory be to Him.
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He's higher than the heavens, folks. There's nothing greater.
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Praise His holy name. So we understood, and we understand by the
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Scriptures, and as the thief did, who he really was before God, and that's the state we should be.
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Guilty, vile, and helpless we. Spotless Lamb of God was he. Hallelujah, what a
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Savior. He understood the perfect innocence of Jesus. He understood the holiness of Jesus.
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And I really believe it was the means of grace, as He was hanging on the cross, God was just moving upon Him, but yet the means of grace was there.
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He heard Jesus pray for His enemies. Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do, and what they did to Him.
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He saw the spotless Lamb of God. He knew Jesus was able to save to the uttermost, folks.
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Isn't that glorious? The third thing, we see the believing repentant thief recognize that Jesus is
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Lord. I love this. Jesus is Lord. Look at verse 42.
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Then he said to Jesus, Lord. Let me stop right there. No one can say
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Jesus is Lord, unless by the Holy Spirit. And really understand what
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Lord really means. He is Lord. He is
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Lord. He is Lord. He is Lord. I'm telling you, every knee is going to bow, every tongue is going to confess that Jesus Christ is
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Lord to the glory of God the Father. To the glory of God the Father through all eternity.
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Think of that. One day, there's going to come a day, every knee is going to bow, every tongue is going to confess.
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And I like what Raul says, it's better to do that now. Because one day, even the wicked, those that rejected, even
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Pilate, even Adolf Hitler, even all these mass murderers, these people that are so wicked, they're going to bow the knee and they're going to confess
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I'm Lord and then they're going to be turned into hell. But Jesus desires us to now humble ourselves and repent.
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I'm telling you, man's pride is so horrible. And I look at myself and I say,
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God, take this out of me. Crucify this from me by your blessed
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Holy Spirit. Jesus, He says to Jesus, Lord.
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Then covenant language comes. Remember. Remember. Jesus knew.
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He loves that kind of language. Remember me, that thief says, when you come into your kingdom.
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This wicked man cries out. And I'm telling you, he's desperate, isn't he? That's our problem.
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We're not desperate. We must be desperate sinners to call out on our
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Savior, to call to our Savior. He was desperate. He was a desperate sinner crying out to a great deliverer.
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And he says, Lord. You know what that means? Savior. Deliverer. King. Sovereign.
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He understood that it's never too late to be saved. Now I'm not pushing for deathbed repentance here.
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Even though he came into the kingdom here at the very last hours and he won't share the same rewards as everybody else.
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All the other saints. But beloved, he's in the kingdom. We will see him. Praise God.
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He may not take any rewards as so doing for Christ, but he got his great and exceeding reward.
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As far as I'm concerned, that's all that really matters. Jesus is his reward.
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That's the way he was looking at it. This is the reward right here. I don't know about you.
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Yes, I want to do all that I can and we're going to be all embarrassed at the judgment seat one day that we didn't do more.
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And that we didn't love him more. But this man right here. We will see him before the throne of God.
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We will see. And here he's asking. He goes to the right one, right?
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He cries out to the righteous one. The holy one of Israel. The Messiah himself.
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The one for whom God made him who knew no sin to be sin for us that we might become the righteousness of God in him.
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He goes to the one who's the Lamb of God without blemish and without spot, as Peter says.
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He goes to the one who committed no sin. No deceit was found in his mouth.
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Who, when he was reviled, did not revile in return. When he was suffering, he did not threaten, but he committed himself to him who judges righteousness.
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There's no one that trusted the Father like Jesus. A perfect trust.
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The one who cried out and prayed for his enemies. He calls this desperate thief.
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He calls to the one. He goes to the right one, does he not? He prays and he gives the request to the right one.
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And he prayed for his enemies who mocked him. And Jesus says, Father, forgive them for they do not know what they do.
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I'm telling you folks, that is such a deep prayer. You see, beloved, this thief was nailed to a crew cross.
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He was nailed to a crew cross like the other, like I said, but yet grace was given to him.
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I like what Augustine, I guess you could say, either way I think would be right.
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He says this, Do not despair. One of the thieves was saved, but do not presume one of the thieves was damned.
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That's a proper view. That's a proper view. And you think of it, the
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Holy Spirit has these two before us.
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Isn't this the story of mankind? There's rejection everywhere. Matter of fact,
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Jesus said more will be rejected. He knows this. And on the day of judgment,
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I like what Spurgeon said, No one will be able to blame God and say they could not come to Jesus and Jesus will turn them away.
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Because Jesus said, He that cometh to me, I would no wise cast out. So no one will say that Jesus did not welcome all because that is the common, the general call, like we looked at, that God says to whosoever will.
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But Jesus knows there's only going to be a few, the chosen, that's going to come into the kingdom.
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Amen? Jesus said it. This is not the words of some man. Jesus said,
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Straight is the gate. He said, actually, when He began to say that, He says, Enter into the straight gate.
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He encourages the first thing. Enter into that straight gate.
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But narrow is the way that leads to life. But few there be that find it.
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Few. But broad is the way that leads to destruction.
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And many there will be going into that path. We see that, don't we? This is the human history.
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So we have both thieves. And this repentant, believing thief comes into the straight and narrow way.
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Let us not forget this. Two thieves, two responses.
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The repentant thief had grace given to him. The rejecting thief was hardened. Just like what
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God says, Jacob I've loved, Esau I've hated. People say, explain that to me.
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I'm telling you, that's God's decision. Deuteronomy 29 .29
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Look, the secret things belong to the Lord. But the things that are revealed belong to us.
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And we got enough revelation here. Only there's certain things, only it's God's heart and mind.
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What we need to do is make sure that we're in the kingdom. We humble ourselves.
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Don't worry about these questions. If we got questions, He'll take care of that on the other side.
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I'm going to be honest with you. Once we get to the other side, it's not going to matter no more. Because it's our fleshly state.
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It's almost like the curiosity kills the cat. But satisfaction brings them back.
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And that's the truth. We all have a curiosity about it. And actually we want to know, know, know.
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But God says, no, I know all things. He knows what's best. What we need to make sure that we're in the kingdom.
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Amen. Follow me. And now, that thief understood that he could not be saved through his own good works, could he?
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No. Or any act of self -righteousness. No. Because actually self -righteousness means that human beings can do something to merit their salvation.
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That's externalism. That's playing church. God despises that.
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God hates that. Somehow to earn brownie points with God. To earn
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God's favor. It's blasphemy. God hates it. And this thief was nailed to a crucifix on Calvary next to our
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Lord. Let me ask you this. What acts of righteousness could he do? He couldn't get down from that cross.
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He was nailed on that cross. He couldn't come down to go to church.
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He couldn't go join a church, could he? He couldn't perform any good deeds of righteousness or he couldn't even be baptized.
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I had a discussion with an elderly Church of Christ man one time. I did this respectfully because he was much more older than I was, but he was strictly
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Church of Christ and we were talking about salvation. Kind of interesting that this is my great aunt.
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We went to visit. I pray with the Lord now. I don't know. We were talking about Jesus and salvation because I knew she didn't have long.
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It was a gracious conversation. There was a curtain and right next to us he was coming to this elderly man that was a
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Church of Christ minister was visiting his mother and she was like in her late nineties. She had dementia.
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It was a sad case. We started discussing things and as he heard me talking about salvation with my great aunt, he had to start saying some things and he started talking about salvation and the addition of good works to salvation.
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He mentioned, he said, you must be baptized in order to go into the kingdom. I said, no, no, no.
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I said, my friend, I say this respectfully. I said, you're way off the path.
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I said, that's works of righteousness. I said, Jesus does command us to be baptized after salvation.
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I said, but is it necessary for salvation? I said, absolutely not. It's an external sign what happened inside.
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I said, the main thing my friend is you must be born again. He said, well, I agree with that. I said, but you must be baptized.
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I said, no, sir. I said, you got it all wrong. Then I went right here to this chapter. I said, what about this thief on the cross?
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I said, what are you going to do with this guy? This guy right here, he was on the cross.
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He couldn't come down and he wasn't baptized. But he came in, he went into the kingdom that very day and because Jesus said it, no, he stutters a little bit.
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And then he brings in his own tradition here.
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Okay, get this. And you know what he said? Ludicrous. Yeah, but that was in the law and now it's grace and all this.
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I said, no, no, no, I don't buy that. I said, that's thus saith you. I said, that's not thus says the
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Lord. So we graciously departed. And it was kind of interesting as we was having this debate and it was much more scriptures were going all over the place.
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And then I peeked. And I'm telling you, the door was open.
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There was about five nurses with their heads looking in. Listening in on this conversation between two preachers.
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And I thought, and I was trying to be as gracious as I could, but I could not agree with that, folks. It's a time and place to say something.
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But I tell you, right here, this thief, this repentant thief, he could not be baptized.
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He came in by grace and grace alone. And that's what you see.
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And he believed, he was repentant, he was faithfully believing. That's what matters.
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Those are the elements of salvation, not baptism. This man couldn't be baptized. He was in a completely helpless condition.
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He was in a helpless position. His position was helpless.
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His condition and position was helpless. Totally helpless.
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But not hopeless. Not hopeless. He cries out to the King of Glory.
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Hallelujah. He cries out to the man on the middle cross, as Alistair Begg, and I would encourage you to listen to it if you can on YouTube, the man on the middle cross.
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Glorious. He cries out to the Lamb of God who came to take away the sin of the world, to behold
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Him, to behold Him, the thief that cried out in a simple prayer, a very short prayer,
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Lord, remember me when You come into Your kingdom. And now we see an all -inspiring intercession.
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Amen. This cry was a cry for mercy. It was a cry and act of mercy because Jesus came to do such a thing because this is why
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He came. I'm sure it encouraged the heart of our Savior that this man says, remember me, and first he says,
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Lord, remember me when You come into Your kingdom. How our
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Savior must at that moment, in the few minutes He had, and now and then after this, if you see, in verse 44, it was about the sixth hour and there was darkness over all the earth, the ninth hour, and that's when the wrath of God was poured out on our
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Lord. Let's look at the fourth. The repentant thief recognizes that it was never, never too late to ask
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God for salvation. Now I told you we would revisit this. I don't believe in deathbed repentance.
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But I believe here there is something encouraging that our
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God gives. He understood the brevity of life. He understood the importance of eternity here.
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But He also understood that it's never too late. Today is the day of salvation.
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The call on the name of the Lord. Now is the acceptable time, the
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Scripture says. And He knew that His death was imminent. He knew it was sure.
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That's what we need to know, folks. This is what people need to know. We need to give them the Scripture and say, look, it's appointed for once man to die and after that the judgment.
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I'm telling you, wicked sinners don't like to see that because they think they're going to live on and on in this world and never answer to God.
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But I'm telling you, this life is short. We're passing through very short. It's a short span.
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And we're going to appear before the judgment seat of Christ, are we not? There's no escaping it. So we better prepare for eternity now.
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But this believing thief, if he knew, he believed. It was not too late to experience the divine grace of God.
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Jesus responds to him. Notice the response in verse 43. Jesus said to him, assuredly, the
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Master Teacher, as He always said, truly, truly, assuredly, I say to you, when
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Jesus says this, you can count on it. Today, you will be with me in paradise.
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I like what MacArthur says here. The thief on the cross will enjoy the full blessings of heaven alongside those who have labored their whole lives for Christ, such is the grace of God.
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Jesus assures this dying repentant thief, today you will be with me. Now there's full assurance.
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That's the blessed assurance, amen? Hearing from the very lips of the Master Himself, dying right next to this repentant thief, as Spurgeon says, this is the whisper of Christ to every dying saint.
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Today, you will be with me. Not might. Will be with me in paradise.
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Jesus spoke to this thief on the cross these gracious words. What a promise, amen?
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What a promise. And what was the promise He gave? You will be with me in paradise.
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Paradise. This is interesting. He doesn't mention heaven here, even though eventually it will be heaven.
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But paradise was a place, and Jesus speaks about this. This is interesting because Jesus speaks about this in chapter 16.
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And He talks about Lazarus, the rich man and Lazarus, right? And if you look,
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He speaks about in verse 22, so it was that the beggar died and was carried by the angels to Abraham's bosom.
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The rich man also died and was buried. And being in torments in Hades, He lifted up His eyes and saw
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Abraham afar off, Lazarus in his bosom. Abraham's bosom.
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This was the paradise. This was the paradise. Now, I want to just touch on this.
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This is a whole sermon, but I want to just touch on a few things here and then we're going to go to our conclusion. This indicates an
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Eden, like a park, a final resting place for the righteous among the dead.
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The promise of paradise Jesus gives in Revelation 2, 7, Jesus says, He who has an ear, let him hear what the
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Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes, I will give to eat from the tree of life which is in the midst of the paradise of God.
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It's that promised land. You can't say it's heaven. But there was a paradise, the paradise of God that's promised to those who overcome.
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This repentant thief was an overcomer, was he not? And I want you to notice in what
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I just mentioned about Revelation 2, 7, he mentions about the tree of life. The tree of life.
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Now, where did we first see this? Go with me very quickly to Genesis chapter 2. This is the first time.
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Now, isn't this interesting? Here you have the bookends. You know what we see here?
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Paradise is lost. Paradise is restored. How was it lost?
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Sin came into the world. Notice in verse 8, the Lord God planted a garden. That's the paradise, folks, eastward in Eden.
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And there he put the man, he put the man whom he had formed out of the ground. The Lord God made every tree grow that is pleasant to the sight and good for food.
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The tree of life was also in the midst of the garden. And the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
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I'll stop right there. There you have it. The planting of a garden is really the touch of God's personal providential care.
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We see the goodness of God. That God intended first before sin came into this world for man to live forever.
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To man to have the eternal life. To man to work and to labor and delight without frustration, without sweat.
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Amen? I know Brother Keith will say amen to that. Without sweat in the paradise of God. Wouldn't it be great to work without sweat and frustration and tears and even think of mothers bearing babies without pain?
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That's hard to believe but really that's God's first intention but sin messed everything up, right?
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Paradise was lost. Everything was ruined. Thorns and thistles came and Jesus wore those thorns on His brow.
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Did He not? And our Lord took upon Himself that curse because He became a curse.
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And He reversed the curse. And He not only as paradise we see lost in Genesis but we will see paradise in Revelation restored.
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That God's going to restore everything back and it's all focused on the one person the
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Lord Jesus Christ. His death on the cross accomplishes all of this. Has accomplished all of it.
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It's glorious. And is it not the goodness of God that leads sinful wicked sinners to repent?
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It's God's goodness. A picture of a caring loving providence of God complements the picture of a strong Creator.
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He created man in His image. Originally created him to enjoy him forever.
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Jesus brings that back. He restores it. You know God's in the restoring business. And He does it through Jesus.
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There will be no restoration unless it's through Jesus. And He brings us into the paradise of God.
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The garden of God. You could say heaven's that too. To enjoy the pleasant sights.
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To enjoy the fruit of the tree of life. And like I said, the tragedy happened when sin entered in.
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Paradise was lost but paradise was gained back. Real quickly, my time's about gone.
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1 Corinthians 15. And I'm just about finished.
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Notice with me what I mentioned in verse 20 -28.
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Let me read it. But now Christ is risen from the dead. See, all this could not be accomplished unless the resurrection took place.
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Jesus had to die in order for this to be accomplished. And a redemption was accomplished and a redemption was applied.
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And now the resurrection has fulfilled all this and has become the first fruits of those that have fallen asleep.
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Those that actually died. Verse 21. For since by man came death, by man does capital.
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You notice in your translation. The man, by man was Adam. By man, the capital,
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Christ. Also came the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam, all die.
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Even so in Christ shall all be made alive. But each one his own order. Christ the first fruits.
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Afterward, those who are in Christ that is coming. Then comes the end. When he delivers the kingdom to God, the
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Father. When he puts an end to all rule and authority and power. For he must reign till he has put all enemies under his feet.
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And the last enemy that will be destroyed is death. For he has put all things under his feet.
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And when he says all things are put under him. It is evident that he who put all things under him is accepted.
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And now when all things are made subject to him. In other words, in submission to him.
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Because he is Lord, right? Then the Son himself will also be subject to him.
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To put all things under him. That God may be all in all. It is glorious.
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William Cooper said it right. And we are going to sing it here in a few minutes. The dying thief rejoiced to see that fountain in his day.
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There may I, may I. Though vile as he wash all my sins away. And if you read about William Cooper.
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He had a tragic ruined life. Sin messed him up real bad. But he was restored folks.
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And God used this man. Wash all my sins away, wash all my sins away. There may
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I, though vile as he wash all my sins away. Very quickly, an application to this.
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That is a personal application. But I want you to think about this. Let me give you a question. How did the dying thief come into the kingdom of that day?
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Well, number one, I have already said it. By the sovereignty of God. But this man didn't have the 66 books of Revelation to us.
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By the way, that was not even completed at the time, was it? Here is
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Jesus on the cross. He is crying out to him. This man is a pagan.
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He is a thief, he is a robber, he is an insurrectionist. The only thing that was available was the law, the giving of the law.
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The Septuagint and the prophets. He didn't have the Bible. He didn't have church to go to.
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Did he? But he had the right one to go to. And that was a dying
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Savior. Praise God, a dying Savior. This vile sinner knew nothing of all those other things.
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But he knew about the dying Savior. Because he was in eyesight distance of Him. He knew.
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And what he knew was enough and sufficient. Some of the means of grace.
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And this is a whole other sermon. But let me point out just a few in closing. I like this.
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The means of grace is one in verse 34. Look in verse 34.
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Father forgive them for they do not know what they do. Why do you say that? Because he heard Jesus pray. He knew
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Jesus would forgive. He knew something about the forgiveness of our Savior. He heard
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Jesus pray for his enemies. This man recognized he was an enemy of God. He knew that Christ would forgive him.
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Such is the love of God. The second means of grace I see here in verse 38.
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Notice this. The inscription that was written over him in letters of Greek, Latin, and Hebrew.
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This is the King of the Jews. So, see he mentions about a kingdom.
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He had to know that if there's a kingdom there had to be a king. Here's the king. The king of glory right here.
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So he recognizes from the inscription. This is the
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King of the Jews. Isn't that wonderful? These are means of grace.
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He acknowledged his own personal sin as we already looked at in verse 39 -40. And the fourth thing is he knew that Jesus was the perfect innocent
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Savior. And I believe that's the most important thing. Recognizing who we really are before God and who
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Jesus really is. That is really what matters. That's why
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Jesus took his disciples aside and says, Who's being saved? I am. And then he finally gets to what he was really aiming at.
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Who do you say that I am? And Peter says it. Thou art the
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Christ. The Son of the living God. The Son of the living
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God. Let's pray. Father, we thank you so much for this wonderful time of worship as we've just gleaned.
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Just a little from this wonderful chapter that you have providentially preserved for us.
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Us sinners. Oh Lord, this is so wonderful to know that you sent your
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Son to save us. To save sinners. For the
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Son of Man has come to seek and save that which was lost. Which was lost.
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Like the old hymn says, Come ye sinners poor and needy, weak and wounded, sick and sore.
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For Jesus ready stands to save you, full of pity and love and power. Come ye thirsty, come and welcome.
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God's free bounty glorifying true belief and true repentance. Every grace that brings you nigh.
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Lord, may we come nigh and enter into the most holiest place. Bless our time now, our remaining time,
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Lord, in communion. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.