Resurrection Sunday - [Luke 23]

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Actually, I'm going to do something strange this morning for the Resurrection Sunday service. For BBC visitors, that may be strange.
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For the regulars, you know that's not strange at all when I do something out of the ordinary. I'm actually going to give you not a sermon today, but I'm going to give you a test.
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For all those here, for visitors and members, I'm going to give you a test today from the Scriptures. The good news is it's open book, open
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Bible. The bad news is you don't have to give me the answers, but you'll give those answers directly to God the
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Creator. I asked myself the question, what should I preach on today?
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And if you'll turn your Bibles to Luke chapter 23, it may strike you in an odd fashion that we would look at a passage that doesn't even mention the
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Resurrection quite yet. It's a passage that focuses, though, on Christ Jesus and His saving power,
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His saving authority. And I'm kind of like Eric Sauer. He said, if you wish to be disappointed, look to others.
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If you wish to be downhearted, look to yourself. If you wish to be encouraged, look to Jesus Christ.
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And that's what we want to do today. I want the spotlight to be focused on Christ Jesus, His greatness, and He will soon be resurrected from the dead.
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But this is one of the last things He has done before He is raised from the dead.
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And I believe this passage will not only convict you, but it will comfort you when you say to yourself,
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I am impressed with Jesus. Jesus is wonderful. He's magnificent.
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At the end of Romans 11, when Paul is describing the great work that God accomplished, he started off with a word, and you know the word even in English.
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It's the word, O. O. It's this word that just means,
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I'm so impressed, I can't even begin to take it in, and my only response is,
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O. And that's what will happen with this passage today. The thief on the cross in Luke 23.
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Actually, it's a misnomer. It has nothing to do with the thief, per se. It has to do with the Savior who saves the thief right next to Him on the cross.
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And I believe that as we see this view of Christ Jesus saving, it will encourage you today, and it will make you think that Christ's work was anything but superficial.
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It will make you believe in your mind that it was the most triumphant, the most spectacular, the most incredible thing that has ever happened, that on Christ's deathbed, as it were,
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He is saving sinners. If you go to Luke 23 .13, let me just read you several verses to set the scene, and then we'll move into the test questions that I'd like to ask everyone here this morning.
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Luke 23 .13. If you don't have a Bible, it's going to be a long sermon, so there should be a black
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Bible right in front of you, a black pew Bible. You want to open it up about three quarters of the way in. The Gospel according to Luke.
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Luke 23 .13. And Pilate summoned the chief priests and the rulers and the people and said to them,
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You brought this man to me as one who incites the people to rebellion, and behold, having examined him before you,
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I have found no guilt in this man regarding the charges which you make against him. No, nor has
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Herod, for he sent him back to us, and behold, nothing deserving death has been done by him.
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I will therefore punish him and release him. Verse 18. But they cried out all together, saying,
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Away with this man, and release for us Barabbas. He was one who had been thrown into prison for a certain insurrection, made in the city, and for murder.
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And Pilate, wanting to release Jesus, addressed them again, but they kept on calling out, saying,
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Crucify, crucify him. And he said to them the third time,
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Why, what evil has this man done? I have found in him no guilt demanding death.
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I therefore will punish him and release him. But they were insistent with loud voices asking that he be crucified, and their voices began to prevail.
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Pilate pronounced sentence that their demand should be granted. And he released the man that they were asking for, who had been thrown into prison for insurrection and for murder.
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But he delivered Jesus to their will. And when they led him away, they laid hold of one
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Simon of Cyrene, coming in from the country, and placed on him the cross to carry behind Jesus.
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And there were following him a great multitude of people, and of women who were mourning and lamenting him.
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But Jesus turning to them said, Daughters of Jerusalem, stop weeping for me, but weep for yourselves, for your children.
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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.
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Then they will begin to say to the mountains, Fall on us, and to the hills, cover us. For if they do these things in the green tree, what will happen in the dry?
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And now we move to our passage this morning. And two others also, verse 32, who were criminals, were being led away to be put to death with him.
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And when they came to the place called, interestingly, the Skull, there they crucified
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Jesus and the other criminals, one on the right and the other on the left.
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Interesting place, a place called the Skull. In Greek you probably know the word, especially if you have any medical background.
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It's where we get the word, cranium, the skull. In Latin, the word is calvaria, where we get the word, calvary.
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Why? Because it looked like a skull? There was lots of skulls there? We don't know. But from this skull place,
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Jesus said, verse 34, Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they're doing, and they cast lots, dividing up his garments among them.
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Which leads me to the first question. You might call them resurrection questions, if you will, that God will ask in the text, and then will ask you through the preaching ministry here, resurrection questions with important implications.
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These need to be answered. You just can't say, well, I don't have an answer. These are very, very important.
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I believe that God has created you, and one day you will stand before God as we all will, and God will judge us.
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And unless we are forgiven based on Christ's work, God will say to those before him who aren't born again, he'll say, away from me,
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I never knew you. And the answers to these questions found right here in the text will help those today who are not
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Christians to see what Christianity is, to understand it, to know why Resurrection Sunday, Easter Sunday, is so important.
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And if you're already a Christian, these will be good questions to ask yourself again and say, Lord, I've forgotten how good you were to me.
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I've forgotten the depths of love that you went through and went to to have your son die for me.
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When you think about love, love is doing what's best for the other person. And here
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God knows what's best for us, and it is forgiveness. Giving his son is the best.
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And so for those Christians that run around and say, I want Jesus to have him give me money, I want a better relationship with my family and my wife, and work, spare me.
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Jesus gives himself, which is the best, to us. It's not what we get from Jesus, it is we get
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Christ Jesus. And you'll see that in the passage today. Resurrection question number one, why didn't
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Jesus save himself? Why didn't Jesus save himself? He could have, yes.
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He could have gotten off of that gibbet any time he wanted to. Why didn't he save himself? Well, let's look at the passage.
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Verse 35, please. You'll see them having the question too. It comes right from them.
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And the people, Luke 23, 35, stood by looking on. You've got all kinds of people during the festivals, tons of people just standing there, staring, gawking, looking.
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Some wanting Jesus to be crucified. They were the ones saying, crucify him. And others not wanting him to be crucified.
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And they're all just looking on. Some dazed, some stupefied, and others satisfied.
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Halftime entertainment kind of thing. And even the rulers were sneering at him.
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Do you see the text? They were reveling. They were gloating. It was something that they normally wouldn't stoop that low to do.
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That's for the blue collar. That's for someone else. We are educated. We are higher up. We don't do that.
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We're the leaders. It's one thing if some of the people gloat and sneer and revile.
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But when the leaders do, you know how low it actually is. They were soaking it in.
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And by the way, notice in the text, they'll never talk to Jesus here. They so disdain
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Jesus that they won't talk directly to him, even though he's right there. They'll talk about him. And the rulers, the text said, sneered.
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It is an ongoing thing. It's not just one little sneer. It is ongoing. And I think the Greek word will help you, because it's very onomatopoetic.
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Here's the Greek word for sneering or deriding. You turn up your nose to someone. It's equivalent to spitting on someone's face in the
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Middle East. Here's the Greek word. Ekmoutsaridzo. And they're just sneering, and it's just horrible.
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It's a fulfillment of Psalm 27 that says, All who see me sneer at me. They separate with the lip.
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They wag the head, saying. They're opening their mouth out widely, up widely, and the insults are just streaming out.
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Verse 13 of Psalm 22 says, They open mouth wide as ravening and a roaring lion.
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So you picture a lion with his mouth just open, and instead of the roar that comes out of the lion's mouth, this is what the leaders are doing.
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Spurgeon said, Like hungry cannibals, they opened their blasphemous mouths as if they were about to swallow the man whom they abhorred.
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They could not vomit forth their anger fast enough through their mouths. Matthew 27 says,
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And those passing by were hurling abuse at him. So the ones that were there were, the leaders were, some would just walk by, and like a 97 mile an hour fastball pitch, just right to the direction of Christ.
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And what did those leaders say? Verse 35 says, He saved others. Let him save himself, if this is the
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Christ of God, His chosen one. He saved others. They heard about his healings.
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They heard about Lazarus, I'm sure. They're not talking about eternal salvation, forgiveness of sins, but just temporal salvation.
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The blind man and others, they knew what Jesus did. If you're the
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Christ of God, His chosen one. Earlier in Luke 22, they said to Jesus, If you're the
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Christ, tell us. But he said to them, If I tell you, you will not believe. And if I ask a question, you will not answer,
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Jesus said. But from now on, the Son of Man will be sealed at the right hand of the power of God.
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And they all said to him, Are you the Son of God then? And he said to them, Yes, I...
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Somebody else has to get into the game. Verse 36, And the soldiers also mocked him, coming up to him, offering him sour wine.
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Maybe a little of active kindness here or there, but still they were tormenting him as well.
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And they said the same thing. Why don't you save yourself? If you're the king of the Jews, save yourself.
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They knew kings could save themselves. And here's the king up on the cross. Why don't you save yourself,
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Jesus? That's the question you have to ask yourself this morning. Why didn't Jesus save himself?
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Verse 38, And now there was also an inscription above him. This is the king of the Jews. And back in those days, you were going to have the death penalty upon you.
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And you would wear some kind of little thing around your neck that had a placard that had the crimes that you had committed around your neck.
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And then they'd come and crucify you, if that was the form of punishment. And then they would nail that placard above you.
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And if you put Matthew, Mark, Luke and John's inscriptions all together, what is above Jesus is this.
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This is Jesus of Nazareth, the king of the Jews. Kind of pilots revenge, yes?
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Here's your king. This is the king. This is the long -awaited political messiah.
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Here's your king. This is the only king that you can come up with? This is as good as it gets for you?
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And one of the criminals, verse 39, who hanged there, was hurling abuse at him. I mean, it's coming from every angle.
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Are you not the Christ? Save yourself and us. Get me down from here.
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So the people walking by, the people that are there, the leaders, the soldiers and even the thieves are all with one horrible cacophony.
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You need to save yourself. Why won't you save yourself? And I ask you that question this morning, every one of you.
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Why didn't Jesus save himself? We know the answer, don't we? A, he didn't need saving.
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Did Jesus ever commit a sin? Was he ever tempted and then sinned? Well, no. He certainly tempted, but never sinned.
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He was spotless. He was blameless. He was above reproach. If you had to have a lamb slain for you, it had to be perfect.
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And Jesus was perfect. He always followed God's righteous law.
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He always loved his Father with his heart, soul, mind and strength. He always loved his neighbor as himself.
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Isaiah 42 speaks of Jesus as this. My chosen one in whom my soul delights.
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God, the Father delighted in the Son because he was the perfect Son. Well, Jesus didn't need to save himself because A, there were no sins to pay for in his own body.
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But that's not why he came. Why did Jesus come? Ron said it this morning. He came to save his people from their sins.
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If Jesus gets down from the cross and saves himself, then nobody here when they stand before God will have any hope because we'll have no sin bearer.
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Jesus came to stand in the place of sinners and die in their place. And if he doesn't die in their place as a substitute, as a sacrifice, there's no hope for any of us.
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Kind of seems stupid almost to think that one Jew out of 30 ,000 that were crucified is going to determine everyone's eternal destiny.
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That's why Paul said in 1 Corinthians 18 that the word of the cross to those who are perishing is what?
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Foolishness. Seems stupid. Seems moronic. That this Jesus who's kind of a no one from Nazareth, has no political power, can't rescue us from the
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Romans. He dies on a cross. And if we believe or disbelieve in him, it determines our eternal destiny.
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That seems foolish. But to those of us who are being saved, Paul said in 1 Corinthians 1, it is the power of God.
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You see a man hanging on a tree. There's only two reactions. One is, behold the
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Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world. I'm glad I have a sin bearer. The other view is, that's dumb.
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That doesn't seem to make sense. And you know, when you think about it, if he just was a martyr, we'd all applaud him, wouldn't we?
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There's something about people who aren't Christians that still like martyrs. You can imagine the boat that went down outside of Greece a couple days ago.
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If somebody saved someone, women and children first, and they went down with a ship, we could all go, you know that guy was manly, he was courageous.
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He was a martyr. But if that martyr does something more than live by example, if that martyr says,
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I am a sin bearer, God is angry with sin, and I will take God's anger for other people, it seems strange to us, almost embarrassing.
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It doesn't make sense. The Bible says if you're cursed, one of the ways you'll show your cursedness is if you're hung on a tree.
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But see, the thing is, Jesus wasn't cursed. He never sinned. But He bore our curse.
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Why did Jesus not save Himself? Because He came to save sinners, like all of us.
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That is the great news. I mean, if I had one message today, it would be this. God loves sinners.
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He sent His only Son for sinners. Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends.
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1 John says, in this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us in what?
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Sent His Son to be the propitiation, our satisfaction for our sins.
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It's an amazing scene. I've been around the world, not too many times, but I've seen places like Petra, unbelievable.
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I've seen Niagara Falls, fantastic. I've seen babies born. You bought one of Pass Out for lots of reasons, but one, you're just so happy.
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Just thinking, that is incredible. But here, all the focus is back to the cross, a man who's perfect, who's
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God and man dying for some scoundrels, sinners. That's what real love is.
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Why didn't Jesus save Himself? Because God loves sinners, and Jesus was saving other people.
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Question two. First question is, why didn't Jesus save Himself? Question number two, is
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Jesus the Christ? Is Jesus really the King? Is He really the Messiah? Is He the only one?
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Come on, there's lots of ways to heaven. Basically, if you believe Jesus is the Christ, it's kind of hate speech today.
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What do you mean, He's the only one? Just today, I had a conversation with someone, and they said, kindly, do you mean to tell me
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Jesus is the only way? He's the only one. You mean to tell me that all these other people, and all these other religions, and Confucius, and Hindus, and Sikhs, and all kinds of other people, every other religion that's ever been made, every one of those is wrong.
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If Jesus is the Messiah, the answer is, yes, they're all wrong, and Jesus is the only
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Messiah. Well, let's find out what the text says. Don't believe me, Luke 23 .39.
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Backing up a little bit, and one of the criminals who hanged there was hurling abuse at him, saying, are you not the
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Christ? He was an evildoer. He was a robber. And he's railing
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Jesus. Actually, the word is blaspheming Jesus, defaming
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Jesus. And he's basically saying, if you're the Christ, if you're the Messiah, if you're the
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King, if you're the Anointed One, then let's have a jailbreak. I'm on death row in a jail, and you've got to get me out.
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And if you're the king in jail on death row, then you're going to be able to get out. Save us. And when they ask the question, aren't you the
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Christ? The wording is such where it presupposes yes as an answer.
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You are the Christ. Help! But Jesus, Paul said, humbled
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Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.
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What kind of Messiah is that? We want a Messiah to rescue us and make everything right.
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And many miss that. When Jesus asked His disciples, who do you say that the Son of Man is?
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Well, John the Baptist, Elijah, Jeremiah. Jesus said, but who do you say that I am?
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Simon Peter answered, you are the Christ, the Son of the Living God. Jesus is the
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Messiah. He's the Anointed One. He's God's only Son. And if He is, then
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He demands obedience. Let me put it another way. Do you believe
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Jesus is the Messiah? If you do, you will show your belief by your actions. If you say,
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I believe He's the Messiah, but don't obey Him, honor Him, give Him glory, then you really don't believe it.
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Your actions betray your ideas. Because when Jesus said to the disciples who believed
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He was Messiah, He said, if anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself.
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Take up his cross and follow Me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it. But whoever loses his life for My sake will find it.
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And with trumpet -like clarity, He says in verse 26, for what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul?
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Do you believe, not only did Jesus come to save others, but do you believe He's the Messiah? You must.
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You have to. And if your life betrays that, then you don't really believe. But you must believe.
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He's the only sin -bearer. Question number three. Number one, why didn't
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Jesus save Himself? Number two, is Jesus the Christ? Yes, He is. And number three, why was
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Jesus crucified between two thieves? Why was Jesus crucified between two thieves?
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If you back up a little bit to verse 32, remember I read that earlier, two others also were criminals, being led away to be put to death with Him.
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These were not dime -store robbers. These were not kind of, you know, happy guys.
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I don't like the movies, but what is it up to now? Ocean's 45 or something now with actors and they're all happy and nice and they look good.
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These people were bad. These people were malefactors, evildoers.
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That's the word in Greek. Evil workers. What do you do for a living? I do evil.
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It was those kind of guys. Those are the kind of people that get crucified were the evil workers.
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And one, if you look at verse 33 again, was crucified on the right and the other on the left. Jesus right in the middle of disgracefulness, humiliation.
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On the cross were another thief and murderer should have been named Barabbas. Why was
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He with criminals? Well, there are many reasons. One reason was it was prophesied hundreds and hundreds of years before it happened.
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In Isaiah 53 it says He was numbered with the transgressors. But our focus this morning needs to be on He was crucified between two criminals because He was identifying with men, with women, with humankind.
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After all, if God is going to save sinners, He needs to have a priest who can sympathize with those sinners.
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He needs to have a mediator to stand between man and God. And that mediator is going to have to be both divine and human to represent
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God and to represent mankind. And so that's why you have God in eternity past, before the world began, the
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Son determined to come and take on human flesh so He could be our representative.
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He could identify with humankind. When He was baptized by John the
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Baptist, Jesus said, permitted at this time, for in this way it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.
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Jesus had to be human so He could perfectly obey the law as a human so God could count that obedience to our account.
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Now if I could get really politically incorrect just for a moment, all this identification has to take place because we're sinners.
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Everyone here is a sinner. I've met people in my own home and I've said to them, you know what,
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I'm a sinner, a lawbreaker. What I do before God is repulsive to Him.
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It's an atrocity. It's like taking a sledgehammer and knocking down this big pane of glass.
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It is like running up to the king and spitting in his face. How many times do you have to spit in the king's face before the executioner comes?
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And here I am, a sinner, and then I say, and so are you.
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And you know the responses that I often get? Amazingly, stupefyingly, they will look me in the eye.
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I think they're joking because I think it's just so amazing. They'll say to me, I've never sinned my entire life.
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I had a man say that to me in North Hollywood, California. I've never sinned in my entire life. Jesus came to identify with sinners, even though He didn't sin, but He was born from a mother who needed a
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Savior. He had brothers that needed a Savior. His father needed a Savior. He was the only perfect man ever born.
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And He came to be a man so He could identify with us, but that implies that we have to know we're sinners. You don't need to be rescued from anything if you don't think there's a problem.
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Why do I need to be saved or rescued or delivered if the lifeboat's pretty good? These days we're dysfunctional.
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These days we commit crimes that hurt others. But these days we rarely echo
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David when David said after he killed Uriah, after he slept with Bathsheba, after he killed other army officers surely that were in a battle that was contrived, when
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David knelt down before the God of the universe, he did not say, I sinned against Bathsheba.
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I sinned against someone else. I sinned against the nation. He said what? Against thee and thee only have
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I sinned and done what is evil in your sight. We have to know that sin separates us from God.
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Cain hides. Can't get into the tabernacle because there's sin. The good news is we have a
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Savior who saves sinners, but if you think you're good, you don't need to be saved. If I ask you this question, are you a good person?
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How would you answer it? Well, if the answer is what we like to do at school, well, you know, sometimes even my kids,
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I'll say, well, what kind of grade did you get? Well, you know, I got 93. Okay, that's good. 93 out of 100.
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Another important question is, well, what did the other kids get? Because if they all got 98s and you got a 93, I'm not that impressed.
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But if you got a 93 and they all got 60s, wow, chip off the old block. That's my kid. But with God, there's no bell curve comparison.
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The comparison is not how good are you compared to the person sitting next to you. How good are you compared to Hitler and Stalin and Tolstoy or anybody you want to pick?
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Osama bin Laden, anyone. It is how do you match up to the God of the universe who's holy, who's set apart?
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I could ask you the question, do you always love God with all your heart? Do you always love your neighbor as yourself?
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And the answer is no. You need a savior. You're sinful. Jesus came to identify with sinners to save sinners.
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That's why he cloaked himself with humanity. Question number four. Here's an odd one right from the text.
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Number one, why didn't Jesus save himself? Answer, he came to save others, and he didn't need saving.
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Question two, is Jesus the Christ? Yes, he's the only Messiah. He's God's anointed one. He's the only way to heaven.
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Question number three, why was Jesus crucified between two thieves? Many reasons, but our focus today was because he identified with mankind and he took the place of that killer
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Barabbas. Number four, do you fear God?
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Do you fear God? Are you afraid of God? Well, look at the text there in Luke 23, 34.
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Jesus was saying, Father, forgive them. Can you imagine on his deathbed still concerned for others?
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For they do not know what they're doing. If they would have understood, they would not have crucified the
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Lord of Glory, Paul said. And they cast Lot dividing up his garments among themselves right in front of him.
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They're the thieves. The two thieves are laughing, ridiculing, and now these soldiers are dividing up the garments.
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And then in verse 40, we get that fear question. Something's happened to that thief.
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The grace of God has happened to that thief, but the other answered, rebuking him, saying, do you not even what?
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Fear God, since you're under the same sentence of condemnation.
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Just picture it again. All the sneering, laughing, ridiculing, deriding, wagging their heads, shouting, all the sobbing, everything else, and you hear this faint voice come out of nowhere, and it's this thief that can barely talk because of the chest cavity issues and all that with crucifixion, and he says through Jesus to the other thief, don't you even fear.
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You're under condemnation too. You're going to die. And the way he says it to him in the original language is you should be fearing
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God this very instant, and you should have been fearing God before you got here, and you're going to die one day, and then you should be fearing
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God as you stand before him. Don't talk to Jesus like that.
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By the way, I think this is the saved thief's public baptism. There's no water here.
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He never got baptized, but what does baptism do? Baptism proclaims to everyone,
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I, what? Love Jesus. I follow Jesus. There's no water to be baptized. Here is his public confession.
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Fear God? I mean, what's there to fear about God? George Burns, oh God, he's kind of a nice guy. Kind of grandpa.
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I've told this story many times. My grandmother and grandfather raised me. My father was working.
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My mother was working for Mutual of Omaha, and she'd be gone all day, and I'd go to grandma and grandpa up the hills place.
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Grandpa was kind of sick, dying of prostate cancer, and so he'd just kind of sit in his chair. So grandma was the enforcer, and grandma would say,
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Mike, I was the first child, and she would say, Mike, if you don't obey me, that yardstick right over there, that yellow one, that yardstick's going to go on the rear quarters of your body.
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She said a little bit differently. I disobey? She'd say it again.
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I disobey? She'd say it again. I disobey? She'd say it again. I thought, alright. No big deal.
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Disobeyed one time, she said it again. I marched right over to the yardstick, broke it over my knee, and handed it to her.
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Then grandpa got up. No kidding. I wish he would have. It would have helped me in my life. I mean, grandpas get grandpa license to let the kids disobey and hand them back to their son or daughter at night time.
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But God's not a grandpa. God is a king. God sits on a throne and He rules with righteousness and with judgment.
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And He's holy. He's set apart from sin. His eyes are too pure to even look on evil.
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See, we've forgotten. We've made God a man. And we've made ourselves like gods.
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Here's this God. Can you imagine in the Middle East, in the East, in the Orient, if you had to appear before a king, you'd walk up to that king and you would not be able to talk until you were first spoken to.
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You would not be able to look at the king until the king said, please look at me. Sometimes the scepter would come to you and touch your shoulder and that would give you entree into the king's presence to speak.
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That's why God is a king. Jesus is called the king of kings. It's not all frightening and cringing, biting our nails, afraid of God.
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Yes, there's a reverence and an awe. But there is also a fear.
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The Greek word for fear is, I think you might recognize it. Phobia is where we get the word.
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But the great news is, God isn't just a king. He's a Savior and He sent His Son. He adopts children.
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He adopts sinners into His family. If you see verse 41,
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He says, we indeed justly, we're getting what we deserve. But this man has done what?
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Nothing wrong. He's done nothing unbecomingly. He's not a criminal at all.
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If you're not a Christian, one of the things that maybe I could encourage you to do today is I'd want you to be wise about your eternal life.
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Wise that this life doesn't go on forever. Wise that you'll stand before God one day when you die.
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But the most wise thing you could ever do comes from Proverbs chapter 9. It says, the fear of the
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Lord is the beginning of wisdom. And friends, all of us are in the same boat together.
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We are thieves. I'm a thief and so are you. And before we're Christians, we are thieves robbing
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God's glory. But the great news about Christianity is,
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God takes those who are sinners and makes them into sons and daughters. Number five.
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Question number five. Resurrection question number five. Will Jesus remember you in His kingdom?
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Question number five. Will Jesus remember you in His kingdom? Jesus came to save sinners. Jesus is the
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Messiah, the only Savior. Jesus was crucified between two thieves as a representative. Jesus said we should fear
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God. Certainly other places, even the thief knew that. And number five. Will Jesus remember you in His kingdom?
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Verse 42. You see the passage. You've probably read it many times. And he was saying, Jesus, this is that thief that was penitent, that thief who was remorseful and repentant.
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Jesus, remember me when you come in your kingdom. It is easy to follow a miracle worker.
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It is easy to say, you know, that man has just raised Lazarus from the dead. I'll follow him. That man has just fed me out in the middle of the wilderness.
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I'll follow him. What kind of faith does this thief have to follow a man who's dying on a cross?
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That is his faith. He didn't see walking on water. He saw a man with parched lips.
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He didn't see the dumb speaking. He saw a man that could barely utter words. J .C.
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Ryle said he saw no scepter, no royal crown, no outward dominion, no glory, no majesty, no power, no signs of might.
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And yet the dying thief believed and looked forward to Christ's kingdom. You see the text.
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If you come? Nope. When you come? What an example of faith.
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Faith in Christ Jesus, the sin bearer. Praying to Jesus, as it were.
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Asking for God's mercy. He didn't say, you owe it. He didn't say, I've been baptized. I've been consecrated.
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I've been confirmed. I did all the things. I was good when I was little and did all the things that I was supposed to. And then when
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I got older, I kind of backslid a little bit. He knew. He said, I have to throw myself on the mercy of God.
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And what did Jesus do? Too late. Offended me one too many times.
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Out of my presence. Jesus could have done that, couldn't he?
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With all the justice, with all the righteousness, with all the law behind him, he could have said, you should have to pay for your sins.
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And the wages of sin is death. But he didn't do that. What did he say?
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Look at this personal love. This is not some kind of amorphous Jesus dying for the world. Here is
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Jesus dying for sinners, including this thief. He said to him, truly, you know what truly is in Hebrew?
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Amen. You know what truly is in Greek? Amen. You know what truly is in English?
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Amen. Amen, he says. This is true. It's verifiable. It's for sure. Truly, I say to you, today you shall be with me in paradise.
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Now that is a Savior, Isaiah says, is mighty to save. That is the sweet rhapsody that Jesus would save the desperate, the hopeless, the sinful.
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This man probably couldn't move his foot. The grave was right there, just the maw of death ready to swallow him.
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He's blaspheming a minute ago, and now he's cast himself on the mercy of God. And Jesus didn't say, well, you know what?
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Pay your dues for a while in purgatory, and then you can be with me. He said what? This day.
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Do you see the text? This very day. Not to my, behind me, not back in the royal court somewhere.
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You will be with me in paradise. And can you imagine the second he died from the excruciating pain, by the way we get the word excruciating from crucifixion, from excruciating pain to paradise at the blink of an eye.
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Can you imagine that? Man, you'll be with me, not in some phantom area, not in some mystical spiritual plane, but with me in paradise.
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I could echo Paul when he says now to him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly beyond what we what?
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Ask or think. You'll be with me in paradise. I tell you the truth.
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Do you think Jesus kept his promise? I want to say Jesus is the only promise keeper that I know of.
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He keeps his promises in paradise. Now if you think about paradise, it's a Persian word and it's a place of it means garden.
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We don't have too many gardens these days, but it's a garden and it talks about a place of repose and rest, delight.
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It's like a park. I've been to the Bruchart Gardens in Victoria in British Columbia.
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Just trees and shrubs and places are hot. In the day you go to the garden, it's just cool and nice.
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This is the picture of happiness and joy. This is the picture of heaven. Paul said, I know of a man in Christ who 14 years ago, whether in the body
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I do not know or out of the body I do not know, God knows, such a man was caught up to the third heaven. I do not,
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I know how such a man, whether in the body or apart from the body, I do not know, God knows, but I was caught up into paradise and I heard inexpressible words which a man is not permitted soon to speak.
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And just soon the thief is going to be there. The hope of heaven. He throws himself on the mercy of the
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Savior, the Messiah, the one who came to save sinners like him. He doesn't say, I want a place in honor, I want to sit at your footstool.
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He says, I want to be with you. That's a great prayer for those people who aren't saved.
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Praying to the author and perfecter of faith, Jesus Christ. Heaven's not who's there.
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I'll be glad to see him in heaven. My kids go, I'll be glad to see them. But one billion years later,
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I might look over my glorified shoulder and by the way, I need a glorified shoulder after that cortisone shot, but looking over my shoulder,
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I'll say, great to worship Jesus Christ with you. It's a far cry from my old boss who had a
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Pomeranian named Max and he said, when Max dies, if Max isn't in heaven, it's not heaven.
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Friends, heaven is because God is there. And he says, you know what, you'll be with me.
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Promising that man. People think you've got to be baptized to go to heaven? Where was the water baptism there? It is faith in the work of another.
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Throwing yourself on the mercy of the cord and thankfully Jesus, not just the creator, not just the judge, but a
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Savior. And do you think this verse is true for the thief? For me to live is Christ and to die is gain.
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Was that gain to the thief? Absolutely. By the way, you can put in anything you want there. To live is
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Christ and to die is gain. You say, well, you know what, I have a wife that I love.
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To die is gain. I have a husband that I love. Gain. I love my kids. Gain. I love my grandchildren.
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Gain. I love life. I love pleasure. I love travel. Gain. Dying girl was trying to be comforted by her mother.
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There in heaven you'll have no pains, young one. No sicknesses. There you'll see your brothers and sisters who have gone before you and you will always be happy.
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Oh, mother. But there's one thing better than all that and that is Jesus Christ will be there.
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That's exactly right. Alright. Just a couple more quick questions. With all the microphone problems,
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I forgot to set my watch. So we'll just finish when we're done. Alright. I think there are 168 hours in a week.
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So one hour for preaching. That'll work. Number six.
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Why was it dark at noon? Why was it dark at noon? That seems kind of strange.
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Why was it dark at noon? Matthew talks about it, but right here in our own passage.
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Luke 23, 44. And it was now about the sixth hour and darkness fell over the whole land until the ninth hour.
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So at noon it gets dark until three o 'clock. The sun being obscured. The sun goes dark.
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That's amazing. Well, Jesus was suffering under the hands of men and now
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He suffers under the hands of Almighty God. Remember what Jesus said?
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Matthew 27. My God, my God, why hast thou, what? Forsaken me. Many times,
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I won't take you to the passages, darkness talks about judgment in the Bible. And that's exactly what's happening here.
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It's like the son was too ashamed to look at what was going on as the father is judging the son.
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Oh, it was bad to be crucified, but it was worse to stand underneath the rod of God. And this hieroglyphic only points to the judgment of God.
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He was dealing with sins on Jesus Christ. Why have you forsaken me?
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And the answer is so others wouldn't be forsaken. Such a strange thing.
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The first time God, the father, is called my God, my God by Jesus because there had to be a separation as Jesus, the sin bearer, was being punished for sins because the father is too pure to be close to sin.
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And so, the father turns his back, as it were, and dumps all the wrath of God out on Christ and its darkness.
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Basically, what you have is sin bearing here. 1 Peter 3, the just Jesus for the unjust. 1
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Peter 2, he himself bore our sins. 2 Corinthians 5, he was made sin on our behalf.
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Galatians 3, having become a curse for us. Jesus dying in the place of sinners.
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And last question, question number 7. Why was Jesus raised from the dead? We'll end here. Why was
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Jesus raised from the dead? We'll look at verse 46, where he dies in Luke 23.
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And Jesus crying out with a loud voice said, Father, notice he's calling him father again because he's done the sin bearing, into thy hands
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I commit my spirit. Nobody killed Jesus, he gave up his own life. And having said this, he breathed his last.
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Why would he have to be raised from the dead? Well, lots of people claim to be messiahs. I had lunch with a
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Sikh a week ago. He's got some ways of salvation. I think one of the questions we asked the
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Sikh was, are any of these gods that you have alive? No.
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I wonder if the father looked at the son bearing sin. I wonder if he liked that.
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I wonder if he agreed with that. I wonder if that met God's approval. My son is bearing the sins of others.
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Did God receive that as payment in full? Does God echo with Jesus, it is finished, the whole payment has been done?
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How would God confirm to everyone that what my son has done has been efficient, it has been sufficient, it has worked, it is right, it is good, and I affirm that.
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Mission accomplished. Answer, Romans chapter 4 verse 25 says, he who was delivered over because of our transgressions was raised because of our justification.
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How do we know Christianity is true? Well, I'd love to talk to Buddha, I'd love to talk to Mohammed, I'd love to talk to Krishna, I'd love to talk to, the list goes on and on and on, but there's only one man who has bore sins for other people and has been raised from the dead, and his name is
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Jesus Christ. The resurrection confirms the work of Christ.
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He's alive. How'd you do on the test today? How'd you do?
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Well, for those of you that attend regularly, you probably did well by the grace of God. But for those of you that are visiting, this sermon is basically for you.
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And I want you to know that no matter what kind of sin you've ever committed, if you could get into the closet that you have, the skeletons that are in there, and God were to know all of them, which he does, are you beyond salvation?
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Have you sinned your way out of heaven? Have you committed some sin that can't be pardoned?
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Well, think about the thief. The thief was on his deathbed, ready to go to hell, and God rescued him.
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While you're alive, you still have an opportunity to do what's in Acts 16. Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and you shall be what?
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Saved, rescued, delivered. Today's the day to hear. I also want to say to those that are visiting, if God did not spare his own son as a sin bearer, will he spare you when you stand before him, without trusting in the
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Son? Sometimes in pastoral ministry, people want to get in on my good side.
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And so they want to make sure I know who they are and what they do at the church, and all that kind of stuff, and what their last church was.
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What would happen if somebody wanted to get on my good side, and they came over to my house. I have one son, three beautiful daughters, but just one son.
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And they're trying to get in on my good side, and they're telling me about what they do, and how they minister, and all that stuff. And every time my son
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Luke, who's ten, walked by them, they lifted their leg up and kicked him right in the mouth.
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And then began to tell me again how much they love the Lord, and serve, and minister, and they want me to like them.
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How many kicks would it take before I would pulverize them? Well, that's not the question. How many kicks would it take before that they would dishonor me?
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They're trying to ingratiate themselves to me. They're trying to get on my good side. They're trying to say, hey, this is who
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I am, and maybe how I could fit into the church. But it's my son. You say, well, why'd you kick my son? Well, I do good things.
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I helped a lady at our housing project, and if somebody gives me five bucks change too much,
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I give it back at stop and shop. You just kicked my son. I know, but I had some water sprinkled on my head when
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I was a kid. Friends. The way to the
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Father's good pleasure is through the son. If I am the father and I say, you want to get on my good side, there's only one thing
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I desire. Total love, respect, and honor of my son. Then nothing else will do.
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And that's exactly what's happened with God. He has a son. His only son. The son whom he loves.
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The son that deserves honor and respect and worship. And so if you think you can appease
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God in any other way besides casting yourself on his mercy, crying out that God would grant you the faith, believing that he's the son and honoring him, you have no other hope.
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It's as if you're kicking God in the face. The world says be good, you go to heaven.
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Counterintuitively, God says I'm the only good one, but I'm so good, I'll send my son to die for someone like you.
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Cast yourself on my mercy, believe in the son, and turn from your sins. And somebody just said ooh, and I would recognize that as ooh.
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John says he who believes in the son has eternal life, but he who does not obey the son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him.
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Jesus has died for sinners. Look to Christ and live. Bow with me, please, in prayer.
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Father in heaven, thank you for granting us the scriptures. How would we know about your loving kindness and your goodness and your faithfulness and your righteousness without this word?
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We wouldn't know. And how would we know that we needed a savior without the word and then without your son coming to die on Calvary and then as we celebrate today,
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Resurrection Sunday, up from the grave he arose. Thank you that he triumphed over death, sin,
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Satan, and he fully bore your wrath. And so now when we get to heaven, we'll stand there as forgiven people.
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Lord, there must be people here who are not born again. And when Jesus said you must be born again and get into heaven,
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I pray that you would open the hearts of the people like Lydia, that they may receive the word today.
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Satan would not snatch it away, as the parable says, and that they would believe in all their heart that there is a living
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Savior, Jesus Christ. Father, you've been merciful to many. When we think about Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, Joseph, the thief,
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Paul, Peter, Aquila, Priscilla, so many people you've saved.
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Would you be merciful today and save those who have come today to hear the message about the risen