Luke 23:32-43 | Crucified Between Criminals

Preacher: Scott Hollingshead

Text: Luke 23:32-43

Big Idea: The one crucified between criminals is the one through whom you have access to God’s pardon, perspicuity, and paradise. 

Through Christ’s crucifixion: 

1. I have access to pardon (vv. 32-34)  

2. I have access to perspicuity (vv. 35-39)  

3. I have access to paradise (vv. 40-42) 

a. Repentance faith includes:

- Fear of God

- Forsaking of sin

- Faith in Jesus

b. Salvation in Jesus is:

- Immediate

- Intimate

- Eternal

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:01

Church, so good to gather with you on the Lord's Day. As we pray, we're gonna pray out of Psalm chapter 5 today. And if you bow your heads and join me, that would be wonderful. Father, it is um something we take for granted too often that you give ear to our words of prayer. And it doesn't matter anytime that we come to you, you hear us and we have that confidence because of the shed blood of Jesus Christ. That you consider our groaning, that you give attention to the sound of our cries. What a privilege, what a benefit, what a blessing to us, Lord. The fact that we approach you as our King and our God, to you do we pray, O Lord. In the morning you hear our voices, for you are not a God who delights in wickedness. Evil may not dwell with you, Lord. The boastful shall not stand before your eyes. Your word says you hate all evildoers, you destroy those who speak lies, you abhor the bloodthirsty and deceitful man. Father, according to that, which one of us stands on our own merits? Which one of us can stand upon our own character when all those things are true? And if we were honest, are true of each and every one of us, true of the psalmist who writes this, true of David. But then David writes, But, but I, through the abundance of your steadfast love, will enter your house. That's our story, Lord. Through the abundance of your steadfast love, you have sent your son Jesus to do for us, to make a way that we may enter your house, that we may be cleansed, that we may be forgiven. And it's not based on anything we do, in fact, it's based on us rejecting a sense that we offer anything that would merit our salvation. But rather, as we've been singing, it's a sufficient merit, not our own, but now our own through Jesus Christ. And so therefore, we will bow down toward you in your holy temple, in the fear of you. And we ask God that you would lead us, you would lead us today in your word. There are many who are against us, but it is your truth that we stand upon, God. May all who take refuge in you rejoice. May we ever sing for joy, and would you spread your protection over us, Lord? For we know that you bless the righteous, that you cover us with favor as with a shield. Wow. Thank you, Lord. Thank you, Lord. Lord, bless this time as we continue in worship and the preaching of your word to the good of souls in a disproportionate way. May there be more than one preacher up here, Lord. Yes, the man that's standing up here, but will you would your spirit be at work to multiply the message in great ways, in specific ways, to every heart here? I pray. In Jesus' name. And all God's people said. Amen. So you stay standing for the reading of God's Word. That would be lovely as we go to Luke. We're going to be in Luke and we're going to read a portion that we're going to study today, Luke chapter 23, beginning in verse 32. If you don't have a copy of God's Word, a couple things you can do. Read the screens with us. Also, Bibles on little ledges next to the sides of the worship center would encourage you to grab one of those. It is free, our gift to you. We'd be delighted for you to take one. As we read God's word for today, we're reminded what a privilege it is that we get to hear the word of the Lord and stand in honor of it every single Sunday. Let it never get old, church. Two others who were criminals who were led away to be put to death with him, that's Jesus. 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 his left. And Jesus said, Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do. And they cast lots to divide his garments. The people stood by watching. But the ruler scoffed at him, saying, He saved others, let him save himself. He's the Christ of God, his chosen one. The soldiers also mocked him, coming up and offering him sour wine and saying, If you're the king of the Jews, save yourself. There was also an inscription over him, This is the king of the Jews. One of the criminals who were hanged railed at him, saying, Are you not the Christ? Save yourself and us. 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 has done nothing wrong. And he said, Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom. And he said to him, Truly I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise. Amen. God is good. May the Lord write these eternal truths on your hearts. And with that you can be seated. Good morning, church. How you doing? Good. Hey, if you have a copy of God's word, go to Luke chapter 23. And while you're doing so, let me introduce myself. If you don't know who I am, my name is Scott. I'm the lead pastor here. It's great to have you with us. And truly, if you're new, welcome. If you're looking for a church home, we would love to help you find that. Also understand that there are people that just come for the weekend to check things out. And if this is a place that you can be fed, we rejoice in the privilege of providing that for you this Lord's Day, Sunday. As you're getting into Luke chapter 23, I want to bring your attention to those Easter invites that Natalie was talking about, alright? So the Easter invites that you can get are in the lobby. They're at the first time visitor desk, maybe in other places as well in the lobby that I'm not even aware of yet, but I know they're there, and here's what I want to call every one of you to do: invite someone to Easter Sunday. Hello? Are we there? Invite someone to Easter Sunday. You're going, oh, but it's crowded here. I don't care. We will find a way to get every last person in here that wants to be here. All right? This is our opportunity to make a dent for the kingdom of God, and all you have to do is invite someone to a service they're already kind of inclined weirdly enough to go to. So get an invite into your hands and invite someone to church. Here's what's going on. We're gonna do the resurrection text. In God's great providence, we're gonna be in the resurrection text in Luke on Resurrection Sunday, okay? So if you're like terrified, I don't know what Scott's gonna preach. I don't like to invite people when I don't know what he's gonna preach there. You know. I'm gonna preach the resurrection text out of Luke on Easter. No reason not to invite your friend, okay? As well, Good Friday, great opportunity too. We are gonna start for the next seven years. We're gonna take one of the seven last phrases of Jesus on the cross and go through those systematically. We're actually dealing with two in the text today. I'm gonna preach it in the context. We'll get into it more specifically on Good Friday. But here's the question I have for you before we even get started. Writing down right, you're all taking notes? Who are you inviting to church? I'm serious. Because I'll tell you this, I've been reading a lot on missiology recently, and one of the things that I find about missiology is the most effective the church ever is is when they're so filled up in here, it spontaneously comes out of here. We gotta find that, and we gotta realize, man, we have a privilege and an opportunity to invite someone into the life that we found in Jesus Christ, and what a better opportunity than now. And we can just be tired. And so I would just say, before you write anything down, don't write a single point that I have written down until you're thinking about somebody. I'm already thinking about someone specifically on my daughter's softball team that I will be personally inviting to Easter Sunday. Who is that for you? You go, I'm not an evangelist. No, we're all doing this. And listen, thank God someone did it for you. Right? Okay. Just giving you a second to think about a name. Worst thing that can happen is someone says, nah. Pretty awesome, isn't it? Best thing that could happen is you hear a testimony like I heard this week in a membership interview when someone bold enough to share about Jesus literally crossed someone's path at a Pete's coffee, and literally they knew that this was like a Jesus freak, right? In our church, and they oh saw them in Pete's coffee, wanted nothing to do with it. Now testify it was the greatest conversation that's ever happened in their entire life. And you should have heard the salvation that came to that house. We gotta be inviting people to church, y'all. We have good news to get out there, and we're recipients of it. I hope it's spilling out of your heart. I hope you're so overflowed with the joy of the gospel of Jesus Christ that it is coming out spontaneously out of every pore of your being. If not, by the Spirit of God, I pray He gets you there. I think you can get there even through this text when you stand and marvel at what is in front of us. Alright, let's jump in. The title of the message for today is Crucified Between Criminals. Crucified Between Criminals. Luke's account of Jesus' path to the cross is significant. You would think, man, why not just go from the trial to his death? Tell us about his crucifixion. No, Luke wants to give us the path. He wants to explain what happens on the path to the cross because that path to the cross gives us interpretive insight into the meaning of Jesus' death. Luke wants us to get the meaning of it down. And one of the ways he gets us to unlock the mysteries of the meaning of the death of Christ is by introducing us to these characters that we meet on the road to the cross. And one of the characters we met a couple weeks ago was Simon of Cyrene, right? The dude who carries the cross with Jesus, comes in not a believer, leaves impacted by the Lord in such a way the cross reorients his entire life, right? Gives his life to Jesus, goes back to his hometown, they plant a church there, they plant Antioch, they send Paul and Barnabas out, they end up being the ones to move their family to Rome, where the son and his wife are significant parts of the church of Rome. This is what the cross does, and this is what these characters do is that Luke invites us by these characters to see the significance of the meaning of the death of Jesus Christ. And today's no different. One of the things I think that Luke does is he allows us, he invites us in to see our own condition in the lives of these criminals. To be asking ourselves which one of these criminals best describes us to see through this story the salvation that is by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone. And maybe the crowning part of this message that's so significant is understand that Luke is telling us no sinner is ever too far or too late to turn to Jesus Christ and believe. So let me give you the big idea. The one crucified between criminals is the one through whom you have access to God's pardon, perspicuity, and paradise. The one crucified between criminals is the one through whom you have access to God's pardon, God's perspicuity, and God's paradise. This is what Luke's wanting to unfold for us. So we don't just see Jesus crucified, we want to understand the meaning of Jesus crucified. And so here's how it's gonna work through Christ's crucifixion, and here's the point, okay? Through Christ's crucifixion, number one, I have access to pardon. And all God's people said, Oh, thank you, Lord. Through Jesus' crucifixion, here's what Luke is trying to tell you. You, church, have access to pardon. Now let's just get some definitions on the table right away. We see the word pardon there. We need to understand that pardon is a synonym for forgiveness. Through Jesus' crucifixion, you have access to forgiveness of all of your sins. Past, present, future, thoughts, words, deeds, motives, omission, commission, every kind of sin, forgiveness. Release from the legal penalties of the many offenses that we have committed against a holy God. What an amazing thing. Verse 32 Two others who were criminals were led away to be put to death with him. And when they came to the place that is called the skull. Okay, there, he says. Remember, we talked about this a couple weeks ago. The skull is not the formation in the rock face when you go on the Israel tour and see how it looks really cool. The skull is the place where people went to die. It was literally a location for execution. And it was outside the city walls of Jerusalem, just like Hebrews 13 says, said it was gonna be. Near today, if you were to go visit, you would see the Church of the Holy Sepulchre is not far away. If you were on the Israel trip with us, we went there, and we went there an amazing time. We had Israel to ourselves. It was like Disneyland to yourself. It was amazing. Everyone was freaked out, it was totally peaceful and glorious. I'm sorry if you didn't come, but for us, it meant no lines with anyone else. And the leader of our trip showed us this kind of quarry area, quarry area where outside the walls of Jerusalem they would have likely executed people. It was near a main route into the city because crucifixion was meant to be public. It was meant to act as a deterrent. Like you try to pull something like this, look what's gonna happen to you, right? They want to make it loud and proud and obvious that this is what we will do to you if you do anything close to what that guy did. They want to make an example out of you. But not only that, they would want to publicly humiliate the person. That's why they would nail them on the cross where they would nail them. Even the idea of casting lots for the garments of Jesus. One of the things commentaries argue about was if they're casting lots for the garments of Jesus, was Jesus also naked on that cross? Now there's debate. Maybe they left him a loincloth, but think about that. They were publicly humiliating Jesus. They wanted it to be public, and they wanted it to be utterly humiliating. One of the reasons that they cast lots for his garments. Not only that, but they wanted to inflict maximal pain, and so they drove these railroad spikes essentially through the most sensitive nerve endings of the human body. It was the death reserved for the worst of criminals. In fact, Romans wouldn't even inflict this kind of execution on Roman citizens. It was only for slaves and pirates and the worst of political insurrectionists. And this is what our Lord Jesus endured. In probably one of the most low-key ways you could ever describe our salvation, we get the entire story in three words. They crucified him. Wa, wah, wah. Doesn't sound so low-key. Like I was reading that this week. I literally jumped out of my seat when I was preparing, which I am not, it's not uncommon for me to do, because when I get something going, I'm like, that'll preach. Man, those three words, that's my salvation. They crucified him. Three words. Some of the best things the Bible has to say are in three words. Sunning. God puts sun, moon, all the stars in the sky. You know what it says in Genesis 1.16 to describe his creation of the stars? It just says, and the stars. You see what I'm saying here? Like sometimes the most profound things that God's done are summarized in the most simple of ways. They crucified him. That's why I'm going to heaven. I'm set free from my sins because of those three words. They crucified him, because in that moment he was dying for my sins. My forgiveness in those three words. My cleansing in those three words. My eternal life in those three words. My pathway to reconciliation with God in those three words. Those are the three most important words that we could ever articulate. Thank you, God. They crucified Jesus Christ. Well, don't take this the wrong way, right? This can kind of seem short. It's almost like you could take it the way like you, when you like send your teenager to some epic camp, and then they come back and you're like, well, hey buddy, how did it go? Good. Spent $4,200 on that trip. Something better than good better come out of your mouth. You're gonna be grounded for like a year, right? Paying that back. What'd you do? Nothing. Really? It's the most expensive nothing I've ever contributed to in your entire life. We understand that that's maybe a way that this could be interpreted, but hear me, this is not at all what Luke is doing. What I think Luke is doing is actually not allowing us to be voyeurs of the suffering of Jesus by explaining all of those details. I think he cares far more that we understand the significance of what was happening. He's not putting the emphasis on the graphic details, he's drawing our attention to the glorious significance of the death of Jesus, and we get it right here. And the criminals, one on his right and one on his left, they're with him. And Jesus said, here's the significance Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do. If ever you need clarity about what Jesus was doing on that cross, where he died, he can't help but come out with it. It's almost like, picture this, it is the first initial elements of the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. Imagine the idea of the blood first coming out and dropping on the ground. It's almost as soon as the blood begins to be released from the Lord Jesus' body, he's immediately sh proclaiming forgive them. As soon as his blood begins to fall, Jesus is praying, forgive them. What's the point? Luke is telling us this is why he came. Why do you have to shed his blood? Because in the shedding of blood there is forgiveness of sins, because a substitute has taken the place of one who deserves that kind of penalty. This is what his blood is shed for. So he could cover our sins, so he could blot out our iniquities. Think about this. If you've ever been in this much pain before, and I don't think you've ever been in this much pain, but if you've been in a reasonable amount of pain, the first thing you think about is yourself, right? Maybe you think about your kids if you were a parent or something and they are in the way as well. But I find it so amazing that the first thing to come out of Jesus' mouth is about somebody else as they're torturing him, no less. Not just that Jesus loves his enemies, but Jesus is saying this about his own tormentors and his own executioners. Jesus was already beginning his priestly intercession even from the first drops of his own blood. This is the height of the display of God's love. Loved ones, this is your greatest need, no matter what you came in thinking you needed today. You know, I need some relational help. I need some tips here. My marriage is no, you need forgiveness of sin as your foundation. This is your greatest need. And here's the thing you may not even think you need forgiveness for anything. I'm not sure the soldiers did, but by the fact that Jesus is praying, Father, forgive them, implies there is a guilt, correct? Or Jesus wouldn't be asking for forgiveness for nothing that was done. No, he's implying that there's a guilt, and it's not just for the soldiers. It's for those that heard this prayer, and it's for every other person who's ever had this text preached to them. Father, forgive them. We, every one of us, needs forgiveness, and this is an implication that guilt remains upon us, but Jesus shed his blood to atone for our guilt and shame and our sins. And the coolest thing is his death doesn't just make forgiveness possible, he actually purchased it effectively for all those who will turn from their sins and put their faith in Jesus Christ. And so the beautiful news of the gospel is that those who trust in Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of their sins by the blood of Jesus Christ will be washed clean from every last one of them, those you know and don't know, those you've committed and yet to commit. The question is, though, how will you respond? Will you receive Jesus Christ by faith for the forgiveness of your sins? Do you know him as Savior? Because I can tell you, one of the things that happens in church far too often is that people leave with way less of Jesus than you should leave with. You get way less out of the sermon than you should get. You get way less out of the singing than you should get. You leave with way less of Jesus than you should. One of the prayers we should be praying as we gather for the Lord's day is, Lord, let me maximally take home every last portion of what you want me to take home. Because what a sad thing to hear Jesus pleading with the Father to forgive those crucifying him, and the only thing they walk away with is a portion of his garments. You notice the response to the prayer at the end of the verse. And they cast lots to divide his garments. Imagine that. Jesus is praying for their forgiveness, and they leave with a portion of clothes, four different portions for the four different soldiers responsible for crucifying Jesus. That's it. That's all they left with. The question is, what will you leave with? What are you going to leave with today when the opportunity is on the table to have your life completely transformed from the inside out, to have all your sins forgiven, to be cleansed of your unrighteousness through the work of Jesus, that blood being shed, and him delighting to say, that blood is for the cleansing of sinners? What will you leave with of Jesus today? Will you be so preoccupied with what you came in thinking about that you won't leave with much? Will you be so preoccupied with those who are around you that you won't confess your sins? Will you be so proud to think that you don't need forgiveness? That that may have been for the soldiers, but it's not for you. God help us. Receive this amazing gift that the Lord is proclaiming, even from the cross. Because through Christ's crucifixion, you have access to pardon. But then he explains this through Christ's crucifixion, I have access to perspicuity. I have access to perspicuity. You go, well, I don't even know what that word means. And I go, well, it's kind of a, it's, it's a little bit of a hermeneutics word there. It helps with my peas, too. Don't think I was doing it for that. All it means is the ability or state of seeing something clearly. That's what it is. So you want to cross that word out and put, I have access to seeing Jesus clearly, then great. Because that's what I mean. And when I preach, I really care about clarity. I think that's one of the most important things about preaching. You need to know what I'm talking about. And I'm talking about seeing Jesus clearly. Now it's ironic that we see Jesus clearly the way we do because Jesus is getting mocked the entire time. And yet, in the mocking of Jesus, we have a perfect display of who Jesus actually is. And Luke's like, I want everyone who's reading to see it. Oh boy, it's hard to miss, isn't it? In fact, the irony doesn't obscure the truth of Jesus, the irony of them mocking him for all these truths about him. They don't obscure the truth of Jesus, they reveal the truth of Jesus. Luke, even the way he orders this, orders it in a chiastic structure for this scoffing. Now I'm using bigger words. Why? Stop, stop. Do you want my brain to explode? It's eight, it's 923. Well, chiasm is a sequence of ideas presented and then repeated in reverse order so that we would have our attention drawn to basically what's in the middle. Okay? So you you use them and you don't even know you use them. Here's an example of a very simple one. When the going gets tough, the tough gets going. Failing to prepare is preparing to fail. Okay? So you're not like, this isn't like I don't want to go back to you. You got it. You already have it dialed in. This is in your repertoire. Are we good? And so what happens is you've got one on the side, you've got an A and an A, and then a B and a B, and then a C and a C, and then whatever's in the middle is the thing that Luke's trying to emphasize for us, okay? So now watch me walk through this passage. You got this, starting in verse 35, these people standing by, and the implication is they're standing by sympathetically. There's the A. On the other side, you've got the second man on the cross who looks at Jesus sympathetically, even for forgiveness. There's a softening there of some kind, okay? So you've got the two outside parts. Now let's go to B and B. The rulers scoffed at him. What does he say? He saved him, uh he saved others. Let him save himself. Here he is. If he is the Christ of God, his chosen one. So there's B, the Christ of God, the identification of Jesus as the Christ, Jesus as the Messiah. What's the other side of the B? The Christ description. Look at verse 39. One of the criminals who were hanged railed at him, saying, Are you not the Christ? Now we're starting to get his identity. Let's go back in, let's go in a little bit deeper. Here's C and C. The soldiers also mocked him, coming up and offering him sour wine and saying, If you are the king of the Jews, save yourself. And here's the middle of it. There was also an inscription over him. This is the king of the Jews. Luke is trying to tell us that Jesus being crucified, they are crucifying the Messiah. They are crucifying the King of the Jews. This is who this is. Now, they're doing it in a mocking fashion, but Luke is leveraging something called dramatic irony. And again, we know what this is. Because if you've ever watched a murder mystery, you know that awareness you have is like one of the audience members where you know the murderer is already in the house, but none of the characters do. You know what I'm talking about? You watch some murder mystery, right? I'm not talking like horrible stuff. All right, lighten up. We good? We dialed? Yeah? Okay. Do you have that feeling in you when you see the murderers in the house that you almost want to scream at the TV? He's in the house, dummies. Look out! Don't open that door, right? You know what I'm talking about? Nobody. Alright. Would help if I say I don't watch movies a lot, and then we're like, alright, those hypothetical movies that we watch. I do that every single time I watch something like that, where you just you you're at you're a step ahead. Luke, as we're reading this, we're a step ahead of where they are. They're mocking and we're going, but he is. But he is. When you're reading, that's exactly what you should be doing. But he is. He's the king of the Jews. You're missing it. You're gonna insult him for the very reason that he came to save you. It's wild. And the irony is so wrapped up in this, right? He's the king of the Jews. This whole thing, if you think about it, really is displayed by Luke as a royal enthronement. You know what the cross becomes? A throne. Jesus, in this moment, has a royal cup-bearer. Now, not bringing them what I'd want to drink. We're just throwing some sour wine into a cup and receiving a cup like a king would receive. Now, a lot of people get into the sour wine, oh, it was meant to offset some of the pain, it was meant for this, it was meant for that. I just think the clearest thing to say is um they loved watching people suffer on those crosses. I think they gave it to them to keep them on there longer. But it was what a poor person would drink. And yet it's this display of the kingship of Christ, where his royal authority is actually coming through. They put a placard up over his throne, which is the cross that says the king of the Jews. He is the king. Now it's all a mockery. But if you're reading as the audience, you're going, but yes. But yes. Listen, the difference between someone who's saved and someone who's not, as someone reads that not saved, and goes, No idea, they're just like someone in the story. The Christian reads that and thinks they're the audience that is aware of something that the soldiers are not aware of. It is so significant that when you read that, you realize he is saying to you exactly what's true of Jesus Christ and have you responded to him in that way. They're saying, You're so great, why don't you you saved others, why don't you save yourself? They just assume he's being crucified in weakness when the opposite is true. He's not being crucified in weakness as if he can't save himself. He is being crucified in power to save others. But again, the dramatic irony in us goes, that's for me. You want to plead with the soldiers? I want to evangelize the soldiers. They're dead. When I'm reading, I want to go, that's for you. I can tell you it's for me. Jesus has changed me because God has allowed me to see clearly that Jesus being crucified is the king of the Jews. He is the Messiah. He was the one who was sent. He was the suffering servant who was paying the penalty for our sins. He was the substitutionary sacrifice. He was the one upon whom. This is the king, this is the messiah, this is the substitute, this is the atoning sacrifice for sins. This is the this is the do you see it? Have you received Jesus? See what happens with sin is sin blinds us to the reality, not only of ourselves, blinds us to the reality of who Jesus Christ is. So we never come to the benefits of what Jesus Christ has come to do. You've never personalized it. You have to see it clearly. Here's how God opens our eyes by the Spirit, through the preaching of the Word. Like this, right now, what we're doing is exactly how God opens eyes. By the means of the preach word, by the power of the Holy Spirit, He opens eyes. Do you see? Because one of the things you need to see in this as well is that you can be near Christ, you can even say the right things about Christ and not be a follower of Christ. You can have all the right answers, I wanna style, right? You could have grown up in the church, and the words coming out of your mouth are nothing more than in the same category as the mockers, mocking soldiers, right here. Maybe some of you in here would say you're hardened to him, or wouldn't even say that, you just are hardened to him. Will you remain hardened to him, knowing that he is the king of the Jews, knowing that Luke is setting this up in such a way that even though it looks like he's being crucified among criminals, he's really the king. And if he's the king, maybe it's not just will you remain hardened to him, but some of you, will you remain ho-hum to him? Kind of walking through the motions little better than Luke, warm. Not grepped, not gripped by the reality of who Jesus is, not living like he's your king. See, we don't get saved by living like he's our king. The king has provided everything we need to be saved. We don't do anything but rest in the work of the king. But those who know the work of the king live like he is king. And it's not because it saves them, it's because it's a fruit of God at work in you that you live like he's king. Do you live like he's king? Do you see clearly? God help us to see clearly. And then he has this amazing interaction. It's only found in the narrative in Luke. Through Christ's crucifixion, number three, I have access to paradise. Through Christ's crucifixion, I have access to pardon, I have access to perspicuity, and I have access to paradise. You may be curious, man, you could have had such a better title for your message than crucified between criminals. I mean, that's not even creative. You pulled that right out of the text. I bet you were lazy. I bet you didn't even think about it that much. You know what? It's actually not true. I couldn't stop thinking about it, actually. Because Luke is at pains to tell us this Jesus was crucified between two criminals. He really wants you to know. In fact, if you've been reading up until this point, as I've been going through the passage here, he's weaving it through both of the previous points. He's telling you about Jesus there they crucified him, but then he's going, but there's this guy on the left and there's this guy on the right. And by the way, if you're being crucified based on what I've already said, they're really guilty. Badly guilty. And Luke is trying to tell us, hello. Two criminals. Even more. Which are you? Inviting you to see yourself in one of them. Now let's be clear about both of them. If I'm gonna ask you which of the criminals are you, you're like, I'm not a criminal. Alright. You're probably the first guy. Right? That's simple. And you want to be the second for the record. It's one of those things like in family worship with kids, it's like you just give them the answer ahead of time. Now both of these criminals start reviling Jesus. Luke doesn't give us that the second criminal reviles Jesus. The other accounts, Matthew and Mark, tell us both criminals started reviling Jesus. Something happened to the second criminal. You go what? I could tell you what I think. I think he got saved. Right? You remember when you started acting like not yourself? And it happened at a moment you weren't expecting, and you're like, I'm different now. I like different things now, I have different wants now. Why do I love Jesus now, right? Whatever that was. What could we attribute it to? Was it a sense of the fear of God? Well, he speaks about it, doesn't he? Something gripped him about the fear of God. I certainly think that's a piece of it. Is it possible that listening to the words of Jesus as the first drops of blood hit the ground, Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do, that he was taking advantage of the prayer? By the way, let me just say something to the parents of prodigals who you have poured your heart and soul into your kids and you have loaded them full of Bible verses, and they have walked away from the Lord. I know that's many stories. There's many stories in the church, right? That you're praying for them, you're hoping for them. Let me just tell you, one of my favorite things to tell parents of prodigals is this there is a dangerous amount of dormant seed in that heart. The fact that you have poured into your kids the Bible over and over and over again, they are walking with a dangerous amount of fodder for the Spirit of God to light on fire. And he can please to do it whenever he wants, including the seconds before their death, should it please him. It is not over until it's over. Pray that those seeds that you poured into your kids' hearts would germinate by the power of the Holy Spirit, because if there is ever an encouragement that they're never too far and it's never too late, it's this criminal on the cross. You couldn't find a guiltier person, and he's forgiven in an instant. No baptism, no forgiven, no repentance, walking it out, no change of life, except what you see on the cross, accept him trusting in the Lord Jesus. That is it. He has this repentant faith. You go, how did he get it? It's given to you by God. Faith is a gift, repentance is a gift. The Bible's so stinking clear about that. I know a lot of you have been told, you did it, you repented, you trust, you didn't, you didn't, you didn't. I'm trying to go look at 2 Timothy 2. You'll see repentance is a gift from the Lord. Go look at Ephesians 2. Faith is a gift from the Lord. Go look at Philippians 1, doubles down. You're like, oh, that's that one gift about faith being a gift from the Lord. No. Repentance and faith are gifts from God. Doesn't mean you don't exercise them. By the way, thief on the cross, no idea repentance and faith is a gift from God. No idea. Just exercising it. If you were to ask the guy on the cross, you know what I think he would say? I'm just going with what I'm sensing inside of me. Because you can't put words to that invisible work that the Spirit is doing when he regenerates a human heart, which he does by the living and abiding word of God. Which he's hearing pour out of the mouth of the Lord Jesus. And boy, do we see a sign of repentant faith. And if ever you wanted clarity, you're like, how what does it look like to actually give my life to the Lord? Some of you maybe are there today. You're like, I want to trust in Jesus. I want my sins forgiven. I want eternal life. How do I respond to the Lord Jesus? Well, first of all, you understand that you can do nothing. So all you're doing in responding is merely receiving the work of the Lord Jesus Christ. You are banking all your hope, all your trust. You are just resting in what Jesus Christ has done. But here's what it will look like when repentant faith is yours. Three things. You'll see it in the text. First, you will have a fear of God. But the other rebuked him, saying, Do you not fear God? Since you are under the same sentence of condemnation. When you are on the road to saving faith, you will experience a fear of God. Not a fear of like shame over your sins like Adam had, where you're hiding from the Lord. A sense of sorrow. Sorrow over your sins that are leading you to the Lord to do help me, God. Help me, God, cleanse me, God, atone for these sins, God, blot out my iniquities, God. Fear of God that leads you to God. And then you'll see a forsaking of sin taking place. You see your sin totally differently than before. It's the beginning of repentance. He says, Don't you fear God since you are under the same sentence of common condemnation? And we indeed justly. For listen, for we are receiving the due reward of our deeds, but this man has done nothing wrong. That is repentance, if you've ever heard it. That is forsaking of sin, insofar as a man on a cross could do so. What does he do? He admits his sin. We are receiving the due reward of our deeds. I am so stinking guilty, I deserve to die and go to hell. That recognition, life-giving. The minute you're being changed by the Lord by his spirit, you go, I so deserve to go to hell. He is so right in his judgments. You admit your guilt, you acknowledge the deservedness of judgment. For sure, totally, completely guilty. And you affirm the innocence of Jesus. He's not. I am he's not, period. My hope is in him. And then he simply puts his faith in Jesus, and here's what he says: he's praying to the Lord. Jesus, consider all the good works I've done. You see that in the text? Nope. Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom. What a wild thing to say. The guy who's being mocked as the king, he's saying, Jesus, will you remember me when you enter into your kingdom? If ever there was a time to be like, this guy is a complete and total joke. No one in the vicinity of those involved in his crucifixion were even on remotely on the page of him being a king and he didn't care at all. He just boldly, unembarrassingly, confidently asked that Jesus, in covenant language, basically speaking as if to God, the covenant God, God in covenant mercy, he's saying, Remember me. It's the same language as Psalm 106, verse 4. Remember me. When you show grace to your people, remember me. Not fix my problems, not elongate my temporal life. Lord, remember me in your mercy, in your grace. He publicly acknowledges Jesus for who he is. Which, by the way, he didn't get baptized, but publicly acknowledging your faith in Jesus, that is what baptism in part is all about, isn't it? That's the joy of baptism. That's what we get to do every month. God, I would love if the Lord would lead us in such a way where we were baptizing people all the time. Going, man, I cannot wait to publicly profess my identification with Jesus and his life, death, burial, and resurrection. He doesn't get to the baptismal, but we see the faith of one willing to publicly proclaim amongst so many people that thought he was nuts that Jesus is king. And probably the best promise you could ever imagine hearing. Jesus says to him, three things. Salvation in Jesus Christ. He brings salvation in Jesus Christ. Three things. I think I wrote them up here for you. Yeah, you can follow along. Salvation in Jesus Christ is immediate. It's intimate. And it's eternal. Immediate. Jesus said to him, Truly I say to you, today. For all intents and purposes, this man was likely assuming that Jesus would come back as a king, and at the end of the ages, he would hopefully cash in on this favor being shown to this man who was asking for it. He had no idea that Jesus was going to say no, right now. Today. Salvation was secure the moment it's granted. Today, today, today is the word. Today is a word associated with salvation. Jesus tells them the experience will be immediate. This is to reject things like soul sleep, for example. To be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord, because today, today is the emphasis. Today you will be with me. And of course, there's the intimacy, right? You will be with me. That's part of the blessing of salvation. He's treated as if he's righteous, he's promised Christ's presence. Guys, heaven's greatest gift is Jesus. Not the benefits of what you get in heaven, but to be with the one whom your soul loves, to be in communion, perfect communion with Jesus. That's what he's offering. You will be with a stunning thing to be treated as righteous. You can't be before the presence of God apart from righteousness. And yet somehow, through the death of Jesus Christ, Christ can confidently speak over those who trust in him for his grace to save them. That because of what he's done, you will be with me, righteous and in communion with him. Where? In paradise. Means happiness or plenty. Originally referred to the Garden of Eden. Paul uses the term to refer to heaven in 2 Corinthians 12, 12 and 12, verse 3. Speaks of the realm of the righteous dead. One of the things that's interesting about how Jesus describes this is really he's doing something here where Jesus' death opens the door to paradise. He's speaking in a sense of paradise being regained. You think of the first Adam, what happened? He was in the garden, he sinned against God, he lost paradise. So now the second Adam has come, he regains it, and then also says, By my blood I reopen it for everyone who trusts in me. I'm bringing a whole bunch of people with me. And this is his promise. All of this by grace. One of my favorite hymn writers is a guy named William Cooper. His last name is spelled like Cowper, but it's Cooper. And he was a friend of John Newton's, and he was actually, he suffered from severe depression, despondency, he attempted suicide multiple times. He wrote some of the most amazing hymns ever written in the English language, in my opinion. He was in an insane asylum, barely holding on to life at different points. And he said, when he read this story, he got one of the most encouraging pieces out of it of his whole life. He said he wrote, There is a fountain filled with blood to soothe his own guilt and despair. And here's what he wrote: He said, The dying thief rejoiced to see that fountain in his day. And he said, And there may I, though vile as he, wash all my sins away. Plunge yourself beneath the fountain of the cleansing blood of Jesus Christ, and you will be saved. Father, thank you for your word. Thank you for your son. Thank you for his amazing priestly intercession. Lord, you are so kind to bestow salvation on the least deserving. And Father, we pray that your gift of salvation would extend to many today who do not know you, God. Oh, may it be, Lord. May it be, we pray, in Jesus' name. Amen.