Jesus And The Two Thieves - [Luke 23]

Welcome to No Compromise Radio, a ministry coming to you from Bethlehem Bible Church in West Boylston. No Compromise Radio is a program dedicated to the ongoing proclamation of Jesus Christ, based on the theme in Galatians 2, verse 5, where the Apostle Paul said, �But we did not yield in subjection to them for even an hour, so that the truth of the gospel would remain with you.

In short, if you like smooth, watered-down words to make you simply feel good, this show isn�t for you. By purpose, we are first biblical, but we can also be controversial. Stay tuned for the next 25 minutes as we�re called by the Divine Trumpet to summon the troops for the honor and glory of her King.

Here�s our host, Pastor Mike Abendroth.

Luke’s Purpose and the Certainty of Christ’s Gospel

Well, last week, as we were in the book of Hebrews, we were talking about how to die well. Right? The life we live, we live by faith in Christ Jesus, who loved us and gave his life for us. We want to make sure we consider the idea of dying well last week, and making sure we were not just living by faith, but dying by faith.

I began to think about that a little bit this week, and I thought it�d be good to be reminded about the one who died well, the Lord Jesus. I�d like you to take your Bibles and turn to Luke chapter 1 this morning, as I think about the Lord Jesus and how he died well.

What happened when Jesus was dying on the cross, and it�ll be nothing less than a demonstration of his majesty, of his supremacy, of his sovereignty, and everlasting love. It is good to consider the Lord Jesus Christ from the passage we�ll look at today.

The passage, once we get past Luke 1, we�ll look at a passage that is a very famous passage, and a passage I like to preach about every seven years. I�ve been here almost 23 years, so I preach a different sermon from this passage a couple different times.

As you know, Luke chapter 1 frames everything. What�s Luke about? You can imagine, Luke being the physician, he�s very meticulous, he�s very thoughtful. It�s just not kind of a ramshackle, throwed-together account of the Lord Jesus, but he�s very logical, he�s very systematic, he�s like a physician.

He is a physician. And it says in Luke chapter 1, verses 1 through 4, �Inasmuch as many have undertaken to compile a narrative of the things that have been accomplished among us, just as those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and ministers of the word have delivered them to us.

It seemed good to me also, having followed all things closely for some time past, to write an orderly account for you, most excellent Theophilus, that you may have certainty concerning the things you have been taught.

Isn�t that good? I�d like to make a detailed chronology and biography and gospel account of the Lord Jesus, for a purpose, not just to have the logic and the flow, but that you might have certainty of what happened.

You might say to yourself, well, there would be no certainty if everything was just kind of thrown together, but he wants to make sure in detailed fashion that everyone here, not just Theophilus, knows in fact the Lord Jesus Christ is the eternal Son, who cloaked himself with humanity, he added human nature to himself, lived a human life on earth while still divine, all the way to the cross as he set his face to Jerusalem, to die not for his own sins but others, was raised from the dead and ascended into heaven.

And if you trust in this God-man, as crazy as it may seem, as weird as it might seem, as foolish, think 1 Corinthians chapter 1, as it might seem, this Jesus and his life and death and resurrection is the power of God for salvation for all who believe.

Jesus’ Innocence, the Mockery of the Cross, and the Two Thieves

So in light of this introduction, why don�t you turn your Bibles to Luke chapter 23, and I want to talk about the thief on the cross today, but that would be a wrong way to phrase it because this has nothing to do with the thief on the cross.

This has to do with everything the man in the middle of the cross is, the Lord Jesus. He is, yes, surrounded by the two thieves and things happen, particularly to one thief, but the spotlight is on Jesus.

And so how do we die well? We die by faith. How did Jesus die well? We�ll see that today. I love J .C. Ryle�s comment about the thief on the cross passage with Jesus at the center. He said, quote, �Whenever the gospel of Christ is preached, these verses will always be honored, loved, and had in remembrance.

So I want to make sure I do my part every seven to eight years to make sure you remember this passage. We'll get to Moses next week, and by faith, or maybe the week after. It's good to take a detour, isn't it?

By the way, just as my father would say between us girls, as he would talk to all the young boys, when we finish Hebrews, which will be pretty soon, we're going to kind of take a different approach. As you know, we go verse by verse through books of the Bible.

We're going to do chapter by chapter for a while, and we're going to cover books like Galatians, Ephesians, Colossians, Philippians, and Jude, one chapter a week, so we get kind of an overview. I told this to one of my friends who gives me counsel over the years.

He's about 80. He lives in California, and I told him of my strategy, and he said, �Mike, after your five-year series in Hebrews, if you go chapter by chapter for a while he said this, �your people will rise up and call you blessed.

True. True from his perspective and yours, so it'll be good just kind of a sweeping overview of different epistles that exalt the Lord Jesus, but today we're not in the epistles, nor are we in Hebrews.

We're in the gospel of Luke, and remember, when I say the gospel of Luke, it's really the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ according to Luke. Everything in this book is about Jesus, and so if you ever said to yourself, �Well, I'd like to talk about giving thanks.

Let's go to the lepers who didn't give thanks and talk about thankfulness. That's not what that passage is about. Jesus can heal lepers, and you should believe in him. It's about Jesus. You say, �Well, I can go to the temptation account in Luke 4, and how do we overcome temptation

That's not the point of the passage. The point of the passage is your salvation was riding on Jesus' ability to say no to temptation. He is the hero of the story. It's a book about Jesus to celebrate who Jesus is, and the one main point is he wants you to respond with, �I believe.

I say amen. I say I entrust my eternal soul to this risen savior. We'll pick up Luke chapter 23 in verse 13 as we think about our Lord Jesus dying on the cross, and did he die well? What did he do? What was he thinking about?

How did he coordinate things and sovereignly control things when he's nailed to a tree? For an introduction, let's read Luke 23 verse 13 and following as we learn some lessons about this great savior from this passage.

�Pilate then called together the chief priests and the rulers and the people and said to them, �You brought me this man as one who was misleading the people, and after examining him before you, behold, I did not find this man guilty of any of your charges against him.

Neither did Herod, for he sent him back to us. Look, nothing deserving death has been done by him. I will therefore punish and release him. Verse 18, �But they all cried out together, �Away with this man and release to us Barabbas, a man who had been thrown into prison for insurrection started in the city and for murder.

Pilate addressed them once more desiring to release Jesus, �But they kept shouting, �Crucify, crucify him. A third time he said to them, �Why? What evil has he done? I have found in him no guilt deserving death.

You see that refrain, do you not? �I will therefore punish and release him. But they were urgent, demanding with loud cries that he should be crucified, and their voices prevailed. Congratulations, by the way.

Is it Ella Grace? Ella Grace and Boaz Kinsman. Maybe they're destined to be married. You never know. Two new babies this week, congratulations. I wasn't bothered by that cry, were you? No way. I'll tell you when I am.

Did you see, by the way, a couple weeks ago, a pastor, when a baby was crying, blasted the mom. It was unbelievable, and I thought, �Dear sir, even if you think that, don't say that. I mean, we love families, we love kids.

I mean, eventually parents will say, you know, �For the sake of everyone else, I'll take my little baby out or something. But I thought, �Boy, don't do that. All right. If I think I'm a bad pastor, I just find a worse pastor, then I feel good about myself after that.

The writer is making sure you understand, Jesus is guiltless. Jesus is innocent. He's sinless, of course, in God the Father's eyes, but also in everybody else's eyes. This is a sham court, they're trying to frame him, of course.

And when you take the murderer, Barabbas, over Jesus, there's a problem. Verse 23, to read again, �But they were urgent, demanding with loud cries that he should be crucified. And their voices prevailed.

So Pilate decided that their demand should be granted. He released the man who had been thrown into prison for insurrection and for murder, and for whom they asked, but he delivered Jesus over to their will.

And as they led him away, they seized one, Simon of Cyrene, who was coming in from the country and laid on him the cross to carry it behind Jesus. And there followed him a great multitude of people and of women who were mourning and lamenting for him.

But turning to them, Jesus said, �Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me, but weep for yourselves and for your children. For behold, the days are coming when they will say, Blessed are the barren and the wombs that never bore and the breasts that never nursed.

Then they will begin to say, The mountains fall on us and the hills cover us. For if they do these things when the wood is green, what will happen when it is dry? Two others who were criminals, probably Barabbas's friends, cohorts, were led away to be put to death with him, that is, Jesus.

Two more thieves, two more robbers, probably two more murderers, and they were led away to put to death with him. Verse 33 of Luke 23,. �And when they came to the place that is called the skull, there they crucified him and the criminals, one on his right and one on the left.

And so, as you know, this is a place called Golgotha, the place of the skull. Some people have said, �Well, it's called Golgotha because there are just skulls everywhere. So many people have been crucified and they just throw the skeletons down and the skulls are there.

I don't think it had anything to do with that, although it could have been true. Probably the rock formation looked like a skull, and those who have been to Jerusalem have seen something similar. I don't think it's the exact one that we've seen today, but the place looked like a skull.

And they crucified him there. And don't you find it very fascinating, dear congregation, they there crucified him? I mean, it's just so brief, just so pungent, just so matter-of-factly stated. And to make it worse for Jesus, on purpose to make him guilty by association, you have one thief on the right and one thief on the left.

I don't think that was unintentional. I think that was purposeful, to give him disgrace and to humiliate him all the more. What was Jesus doing as he was dying? Did he die well? Verse 34,. �And Jesus said, �Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do, and they cast lots to divide his garments.

Reminds me of 1 Corinthians chapter 2, verse 8,. �For if they had understood it, they would have crucified, they would have not crucified the Lord of glory. Now, by the way, congregation, in the middle of all the screaming and the wailing and the crying and the loud voices, what does our Lord Jesus do?

He prays. We're going to learn that the thieves next to him were even scoffing and ridiculing and mocking him. And here we have the Lord Jesus praying to further insult him. They cast lots to divide his garments, right in front of his face.

And as you study this passage, you're going to see different groups of people contributing to the cacophony of ridicule and derision. There's first the people, do you see it in verse 35,. �And the people stood by watching.

I mean, this is the time of year where there's all kinds of people in the city and they're spectators. I mean, can you imagine, you're driving down the pike. I was going to say driving down the 495, but driving down 495.

And there's an accident. What does everybody on the other side do? They slow down, right? What do they call those people? Everybody has their own name. I was going to say fools, but I couldn't say that.

When I'd ride my bicycle and somebody cut out in front of me, I'd always say, �You fool It's in Matthew chapter 5 that if you say, �Raca, you fool and I just go, �What But I think my heart is saying fool.

They're just gawking. They're just gazing. They're just looking. Matthew 27 gives us an insight,. �And those passing by were hurling abuse at him, wagging their heads. It's just a way to do it in the Middle East, like you just make me sick.

Hurling fastballs 95 miles an hour right to Jesus. Spurgeon said, �Like hungry cannibals, they opened their blasphemous mouths as if they were about to swallow the man whom they abhorred. They could not vomit forth the anger fast enough through their mouths.

And so the people are looking and the people are contributing to the foment of, �Who is this man Well, there's another group there that add to the disdain. Verse 35 says,. �Not just the people stood by watching, but the rulers scoffed at him.

They're gloating. And here's how you say it with derision and sneer, �He saved others. Let him save himself. If he is the Christ of God, his chosen one. This means to turn up your nose at someone, to just say, �You know what?

You mean nothing to me. Hey, you saved others. You healed Peter's mom. You healed the leper. You cast demons out of people. You raised people from the dead. You saved others in a lot of ways, but you can't even save yourself.

I think his knowledge had spread across the land to such a degree, even they knew. But as William Hendrickson said,. �They thought it was weakness that kept him nailed to the cross. Actually, it was power, the power of his love, love for others that he might save them, sacrificing himself as their substitute, voluntarily surrendering himself to fathomless agonies in order that all who repose their trust in him might be saved.

And by the way, isn't that why Jesus came anyway? Does not Luke 19 say, �He came to seek and save those who were lost. He didn't come to save himself. That's not his purpose. And they're taunting and they're jeering, �Save yourself, save yourself.

And isn't this very ironic? The only way he can save others is by not saving himself. Look what they call him. If he's the Christ, the Messiah of God, his chosen one. Can you imagine the hand-picked son gets this kind of treatment?

The chosen one? �This is my beloved son in whom I'm well pleased. Luke 9, the transfiguration, a voice came out of the clouds saying, �This is the father to the son. This is my son, my chosen one. Listen to him.

I've noticed something interesting. I don't think they're talking directly to Jesus. I think they're talking about him. He's there, but they're not saying anything to him. There's another group here, soldiers.

Verse 36, �The soldiers also mocked him, coming up and offering him sour wine, saying, �If you're the king of the Jews, save yourself. I mean, they had to get in on the action as well. Now, some people think this kind of wine, vinegar, they were being nice.

The soldiers were being sweet to him. Do you think that was the case? I mean, you just look at the passage. They're mocking him. They're coming up and offering him sour wine. Most think, you know what?

Let's get him to suffer more. Let's give him a little bit of moisture and a little bit of liquid and a little bit of wine so he lasts longer. There's nothing in the text here that makes me think, you know what?

They're being nice to him. Psalm 69 alludes to this, �They gave me poison for food, and for my thirst, they gave me some sour wine to drink. And they challenge him to save yourself. If you're the king of the Jews, save yourself.

You couldn't do it, could you? Taunting, ridiculing like school kids. You can't do it. Verse 38, now there was a description over him, �This is the king of the Jews. It's derogatory in the original language.

The king of the Jews, this one, this pathetic one. And what they would do is if you committed a crime back in those days, they would put that little placard above the cross, at the top of the cross, and it would say, �Murder or insurrection or whatever.

What's Jesus' crime? He calls himself the king of the Jews. If you put all of the accounts together, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, what was written above the cross would be this, �This is Jesus of Nazareth, the king of the Jews.

I think this was Pilate's dig, don't you? Here's your king. You want a king, here's your king. Which brings us to our focus today. There's the people, there's the leaders, there's others, and now we come to the robbers.

Verse 39, one of the criminals who were hanged, railed at him, saying, I mean, he might as well get into the action too. And the refrain is the same, �Save yourself. Are you not the Christ? You're not the Messiah, the anointed one, the greater David?

Save yourself and us. These lawless criminals, most likely murderers if they were in cahoots with Barabbas. Mark 15 says of these men, they stated, �Let this Christ, this king of Israel, come down now from the cross that we may see and believe.

Those crucified with him also heaped insults on him. Matthew says, in the same way the robbers who were crucified with him also heaped insults on him. The word is to blaspheme. They could not say enough bad things about Jesus.

Hey, by the way, Jesus, not just save yourself, but would you get me down too? Deliver us from the cross. Save yourself, save us. What happens here in verse 40? In the midst of all the shouting and jeering and barking and blaspheming and all the yelling and dividing the garments and everything else and the wailing of his loved ones, something happens.

Something changes. But the other, remember, he had been rebuking, I mean, he had been saying bad things about Jesus. The text says they both had in other gospels. But the other rebuked him saying, do you not fear God since you are under the same sentence of condemnation?

And we indeed justly for we are receiving the due reward of our deeds. But this man, he agrees with Pilate and God the Father, this man has done nothing wrong. And he said, Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.

The Sovereign Savior Who Grants Eternal Life

And he said to him, truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise. I'd like to ask you a few questions as we think about did Jesus die well, or maybe I'll just make them statements. If I take a look at the passage and I think, what can I learn about Jesus from this passage and how he died well?

What was he doing on the cross? The first thing I'd draw your attention to is on the cross, dying, Jesus is still the sovereign savior. Number one, he's still the sovereign savior. Sovereign in two aspects.

Aspect number one, he's not a victim. This just didn't come upon Jesus, things got out of control, the messianic thing went too far. Listen to what John 10 says, Jesus quoting, I'm the good shepherd, I know my own and my own know me.

Just as the father knows me and I know the father, and I lay down my life for the sheep. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. He says earlier, for this reason, the father loves me because I lay down my life that I may take it up again.

I have the authority to lay it down. I have the authority to take it up again. This charge I have received from my father. I have the authority to die. I have the authority to be raised from the dead.

I received that from the father. Don't for a minute think Jesus is a victim and he just got caught up in all this stuff. But secondly, when I think about the sovereignty of God, he's sovereign over the salvation of those two thieves.

Have you ever asked yourself the question, why was one thief saved and the other one was not saved? Ask yourself this. Did either thief deserve salvation? Well, that would be easy to answer, right? Does anybody deserve salvation, right?

Sin holds us from the kingdom. We are slaves to sin. We're blinded by sin and slaves to Satan. The fall is real and we have been credited with Adam's sin and consequently we're sinful people. Neither of these men deserved anything.

They deserved justice. I also look at these two thieves. Both had the same opportunities. They both had seen Jesus right there, crucified next to him, in the same position, heard the same things, oversaw the same things, and yet only one is saved.

You ought to look at this passage with Jesus on the cross and say, Jesus saves the one because he's a sovereign savior. I see the sovereignty of God and salvation even on the cross. Even on the cross, Jesus still in control of not just the rain and the wind and the seas, but he's sovereign over who goes to heaven.

That's amazing to me. On the cross, still subject to none, as Pink says, influenced by none, absolutely independent. He does as he pleases, only as he pleases, and always as he pleases. And guess what?

It pleased Jesus to save that one thief. He didn't have to save either. He could have saved both, but he saved the one as the only sovereign. Jesus on the cross is in control of everything, including the destiny of not every person only, but especially that man.

Can you attribute the thief's salvation to chance, to education, to luck, to serendipity, to kismet, to... I don't know. What are other words that go with that? Other synonyms? Fortune, chance, luck? Friends, sovereignty means God's plans cannot be thwarted, and in eternity past, God the Father gave that thief to the Son, and the thief is going to be redeemed by the Son sovereignly.

God is sovereign in salvation. Not one person that God has ordained to eternal life will ever not believe. Did you know that? Acts 13, 48, as many as have been appointed to eternal life, what? Believed, including the thief on the deathbed.

No hope except with Jesus there, every hope. Dear Christian, you ought to never take your salvation lightly because you might not have been a thief on the cross, but we're all thieves and robbers and murderers, are we not?

When God says you're mine, you're mine, whether it's on the cross and he has somebody next to you, or it's in eternity past. It's amazing when I think of Ephesians chapter one, we're memorizing it with the men.

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, and how does the next part of the verse go? Even as he, I don't do that translation, I do NAS, no ASV, just as he, or even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world.

You see Jesus on the cross, you see him sovereign over everything, including those men. That is amazing. Choosing. You say, well, I don't mind if God chooses Israel and not Philistines. I don't mind that some angels are chosen and other angels aren't.

I don't mind it that the Levitical priests are the only ones who could be the priests and not everyone else. I don't mind it that Jeremiah prophet was an elect prophet and some others weren't, but it really rubs me the wrong way when God chooses some and not others.

Well, then I would direct you back to the cross because he did choose that thief and he gave him eternal life, not based on anything in the thief. Say, is there anything based in that one thief who believed and the other thief who didn't?

What's the difference between the two? Is the difference found in them? No, the difference is found next to them, outside of them, the Lord Jesus. If you have a problem with election, A, you have a problem with some of the things in scripture, but if I was kinder, I would try to tell you, dear friend, you've got a problem with the sinfulness of man because nobody can save themselves and everybody's dead in sins and they need a savior.

Save others. No, they said, save yourself and he was going to save others and it starts with a thief on the cross. Here's what Jesus said in Matthew. It's a good question. Is it not lawful for me to do what I wish with what is my own?

Or is your eye envious because I'm generous? The thief that was not chosen, was he harmed in any way, shape or form? No, he got justice. Did he love Jesus? Did he want to worship him? Did he want to be in heaven?

No, he got exactly what he wanted and that is rejecting Jesus. Romans 9 .14, what should we say then when God chooses Jacob and not Esau? Is there injustice with God? Is there injustice with God because he picks the one thief and saves and he just does pass over the other?

Of course not. May it never be. Actually, election produces worship and in awe. When's the last time you sat at night thinking, God chose me, he knew everything about me and he chose me anyway. He knew every sin I would ever commit.

I think this man responds with worship and praise and awe. Number two, if I looked at Jesus and thought, how does he die well? What can I learn from Jesus as he's on the cross? Not just he's the sovereign savior, but number two, he grants eternal life and forgiveness graciously.

Look at the Lord Jesus. How does he save and what does he say? Verse 43, do you notice? Look at the divine initiative. Truly, I say to you today, you shall be with me in paradise. I mean, Jesus comes to save sinners because he loves them.

I can just imagine that some writers would deal with Jesus here. Hey, hey, bub, can you leave me alone, please? Can't you see I'm here dying for sinners? Don't bother me. Of course he doesn't say that.

He doesn't say, do you know what? By the way, thief, you can be saved if you're baptized, catechized, um, consecrated. Irrigated, confiscated, I mean, whatever it is, you do something first. He can't do anything.

He's on a cross. He's he, the criminal asked for salvation. And Jesus, like he does, gives exceedingly abundantly beyond what we could ask or think. This mocker, this sneer, this ridiculer now has eternal life.

No wonder Hebrew seven says he's able to save forever those who draw near to God. This man said, could you bless me someday? Yes, today. Um, could you remember me? I'll remember you, but I'll be with you.

You'll be with me. And not just in some kind of floating around spatial area, but you'll be with me in paradise before the setting of the sun, dear criminal. I look at the cross and I think, you know what?

Nothing else shouts louder that Jesus Christ loves sinners. He came to seek and save the lost. John 15, greater love has none than this, that one lay down his life for what? His friends. First John four, in this is love, not that we love God, but that he loved us and sent his son to be the propitiation for our sins.

He didn't have to save the thief. He didn't have to save me, but he wanted to. Can you imagine the wonderful love of God? Just think about what you've seen in your life. Seen babies born. Maybe you've been to Petra.

Maybe you've been to Niagara Falls, Grand Canyon. Watch, you know, TV with the man on the moon. You watch things under microscopes. These shrink in comparison. As Spurgeon said, we are sinners, offenders, rebels who have revolted and continually gone farther and farther away from God.

But here in his love, not that we love God, but that he loved us and sent his son to be an atonement for our sins. Willing and able savior. Look at verse 42. And he was saying, Jesus, remember me when you come in your kingdom.

I cast myself on your grace. I don't need a place of honor. I don't have to sit at your right hand. Just would you please remember me? Not not for ill, not for punishment, but for good. You're the author.

You're the perfecter of faith. This reminds me of Luke 18 earlier in this gospel account. But the tax gatherer standing some distance away was even unwilling to lift his eyes to heaven, but was beating his breast saying what?

Sounds just like the thief. God, be merciful to me, the sinner. No self-righteousness. Nothing to bring to God. No self-esteem. I'm not better than anybody else. I'm ashamed of my sin. I'm aware of my sin.

And God, would you save me? Well, number three, here's another lesson. Jesus gives new life and changes people. Salvation, of course, has you right in God's eyes, but also there's another benefit of salvation, and that is holiness.

New creations in Christ. This guy used to be the ridiculer, and is he different now? People say, well, you know what? I kind of like the thief on the cross because it shows that you can believe and you don't really have to have any fruit.

Well, you only need to believe to go to heaven, so Lafitte is true. But when God changes somebody, their status, he also changes their nature, does he not? Justification and regeneration. And you might not be a mature person when you're first saved, but you're a new creature in Christ Jesus, and he is completely different.

He's done a 180. There's all kinds of fruit in the life of this thief. This fruit doesn't save him, but this fruit is a result of salvation. Look at what he does right away. And by the way, we don't know this guy's name, but of course, in the apocryphal literature, they gave him a name.

Anybody know his name? No, but that was pretty close. D-Y-S-M-A-S, Dismas. Maybe that'll be the next kid named at Bethlehem Bible Church. We've got Boaz, and Torah, and Trinity, and Menorah, and everybody else.

I like it. It's easy for me to remember. I mean, think if we had just like a bunch of, I don't know, Paul. Is there anybody here I just offended? Is there a Paul here? A congregation of 300 people and we only have one Paul?

Well, you're just a visitor, so that's all right. Just kidding, just kidding. We don't need to know his name because the focus isn't on him. But he received, God knows his name, that's for certain. And I just want you to see that right away, he's different.

It's not perfection, of course, but it's the direction. And what's the first thing we notice? Salvation teaches you to stand up for Jesus, to hate sin. Hey, don't talk about my Savior like that. Do you notice what he said?