SPEAKER_00: And so I hope we can all find ourselves in that place this morning that we would come and we would find certainty about what we can believe about Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: And in particular, this morning, we're going to be looking at what we can believe about the meaning of the cross.
SPEAKER_00: And so we're going to be picking up our reading towards the end of Jesus' trial before Pilate.
SPEAKER_00: Just a reminder that the trial is basically a display of Jesus' innocence.
SPEAKER_00: That as Jesus' tried before Pilate and Herod and even the Jewish leaders, again and again Jesus comes off as in control, but also innocent.
SPEAKER_00: And so we're meant to ask the question: if he is innocent, why is he condemned to die?
SPEAKER_00: And so we'll be looking at that answer in particular this morning as we look at the crucifixion.
SPEAKER_00: And so Luke chapter 23, we'll start reading in verse 18.
SPEAKER_00: But they all cried out together, Away with this man and release to us Barabbas, a man who had been thrown into prison for an insurrection, started in the city and for murder.
SPEAKER_00: Pilate addressed them once more, desiring to release Jesus, but they kept shouting, Crucify, crucify him.
SPEAKER_00: A third time he said to them, Why, what evil has he done?
SPEAKER_00: I found no guilt deserving death.
SPEAKER_00: I will therefore punish and release him.
SPEAKER_00: But they were urgent, demanding with loud cries that he should be crucified, and their voices prevailed.
SPEAKER_00: So Pilate decided that their demand should be granted.
SPEAKER_00: He released the man who had been thrown into prison for insurrection and murder for whom they asked, but he delivered Jesus over to their will.
SPEAKER_00: And as they led him away, they seized one, Simon of Cyrene, who was coming in from the country, and laid on him the cross to carry it behind Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: And they are following him a great multitude of people and of women who were mourning and lamenting for him.
SPEAKER_00: But turning to them, Jesus said, Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me, but weep for yourselves and for your children.
SPEAKER_00: For behold, the days are coming when they will say, Blessed are the barren and the wombs that never bore, and the breast that never nursed.
SPEAKER_00: They will begin to say to the mountains, Follow us and to the hills, cover us.
SPEAKER_00: For if they do these things when the wood is green, what will happen when it is dry?
SPEAKER_00: Two others who were criminals were led away to be put to death with him.
SPEAKER_00: And when they came to the place that is called the Skull, there they crucified him, and the criminals, one on his left and one on his right.
SPEAKER_00: And Jesus said, Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.
SPEAKER_00: And they cast lots to divide his garments.
SPEAKER_00: And the people stood by watching, but the rulers scoffed at him, saying, He saved others, let him save himself if he is Christ of God, his chosen one.
SPEAKER_00: The soldiers also mocked him, coming up and offering him sour wine, and saying, If you are the king of the Jews, save yourself.
SPEAKER_00: There was also an inscription over him, This is the King of the Jews.
SPEAKER_00: One of the criminals who were hanged, who were hanged, railed at him, saying, Are you not the Christ?
SPEAKER_00: Save yourself and us.
SPEAKER_00: But the other rebuked him, saying, Do you not fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation?
SPEAKER_00: And we indeed justly, for we are receiving the due reward of our deeds.
SPEAKER_00: But this man has done nothing wrong.
SPEAKER_00: And he said, Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.
SPEAKER_00: And he said to him, Truly I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise.
SPEAKER_00: It was about the sixth hour, and there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour, while the sun's light failed, and the curtain of the temple was torn in two.
SPEAKER_00: Then Jesus, calling out with a loud voice, said, Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.
SPEAKER_00: And having said this, he breathed his last.
SPEAKER_00: Now when the centurion saw what had taken place, he praised God, saying, Certainly this man was innocent.
SPEAKER_00: And all the crowds that had assembled for the spectacle, when they saw what had taken place, returned home, beating their breasts.
SPEAKER_00: And all his acquaintances and the women who had followed him from Galilee stood at a distance watching these things.
SPEAKER_00: Now there was a man named Joseph from the Jewish town of Arimathea.
SPEAKER_00: He was a member of the council, a good and righteous man, who had not consented to their decision and action, and he was looking for the kingdom of God.
SPEAKER_00: This man went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Then he took it down and wrapped it in a linen shroud and laid him in a tomb cut in stone, where no one had ever been laid.
SPEAKER_00: It was the day of preparation, and the Sabbath was beginning.
SPEAKER_00: The women who had come with him from Galilee followed and saw the tomb and how his body was laid.
SPEAKER_00: Then they returned and prepared spices and ointments.
SPEAKER_00: On the Sabbath they rested according to the commandment.
SPEAKER_00: This is the word of the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: Well, let's pray and ask for God's help.
SPEAKER_00: Heavenly Father, we pray that we would hear you speak.
SPEAKER_00: Lord, would you be with me, that I can help us to see and to hear your word?
SPEAKER_00: Would you be with all of us, that we would be receptive, to hear, to be encouraged, to be challenged.
SPEAKER_00: Lord Jesus, as you're alive today, would you speak to each of us individually and yet us so also us as a community?
SPEAKER_00: We ask this in your name.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: Well, this morning, our big theme is really the theme of Luke here, that he wants us to be certain about the meaning of the cross.
SPEAKER_00: He wants us to be certain about the meaning of the cross.
SPEAKER_00: And out of all the gospel accounts, and so the four books that tell the story of Jesus' life, Luke actually gives us the least amount of details about Jesus' physical suffering and crucifixion.
SPEAKER_00: I wonder if you noticed it.
SPEAKER_00: The actual crucifixion, it gets three words in one verse.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 33 when they came to the place that is called the skull, there they crucified him.
SPEAKER_00: They crucified him.
SPEAKER_00: That's it.
SPEAKER_00: All the rest of Luke's account of Jesus' death reports on the conversations and the details that are meant to bring out the meaning of his death.
SPEAKER_00: I just want to contrast this to a big blockbuster hit from about 20 years ago.
SPEAKER_00: I'm going to date myself a little bit, and perhaps you remember The Passion of the Christ.
SPEAKER_00: This was a Mel Gibson movie that came out in 2004.
SPEAKER_00: Interestingly, it's the highest-grossing Christian movie of all time.
SPEAKER_00: Unusual that it is rated R.
SPEAKER_00: It's actually the highest-grossing R-rated movie of all time at the time, and it continued to hold that for the next 20 years.
SPEAKER_00: Especially impressive because the film was produced in either Latin, Greek, or Aramaic.
SPEAKER_00: It required subtitles for almost everyone.
SPEAKER_00: Some strange occurrences with the production, and so maybe you know the story that there was a production assistant who was struck by lightning twice.
SPEAKER_00: Even Jim Cavizel, who portrayed Jesus in the movie, he was struck by lightning as well.
SPEAKER_00: What were the odds?
SPEAKER_00: It was a controversial movie at the time.
SPEAKER_00: Some considered it a holy experience, while others had concerns about the physical depiction of Jesus or the extreme violence.
SPEAKER_00: And so one movie critic called it a two-hour snuff movie.
SPEAKER_00: Another suggested that it would leave many viewers emotionally drained rather than spiritually uplifted.
SPEAKER_00: Perhaps the most charitable and honest review came from Roger Ebert of the Chicago Times.
SPEAKER_00: He gave the movie four out of five stars and he said, It's the most violent film I've ever seen.
SPEAKER_00: And yet, as a former altar boy himself, he says, What Gibson has provided for me for the first time in my life is a visceral idea of what the passion consisted of.
SPEAKER_00: That his film is superficial in terms of his surrounding message, that we only get a few passing references to the teachings of Jesus is, I suppose, not the point.
SPEAKER_00: This is not a sermon or a homily, but a visualization of the central event in the Christian religion.
SPEAKER_00: Take it or leave it.
SPEAKER_00: I won't tell you my review of the Passion of the Christ.
SPEAKER_00: I won't tell you whether you should see the movie for yourself, but I can tell you one thing for sure, is that I think Luke would have suggested that such a movie at best is unnecessary.
SPEAKER_00: And perhaps is even distracting.
SPEAKER_00: You see, Luke is not at all concerned about us seeing the details of Jesus' crucifixion.
SPEAKER_00: Instead, he wants us to understand the meaning and significance.
SPEAKER_00: You see, Luke does give us a sermon and not a visualization.
SPEAKER_00: While Luke would affirm, as with the entire Bible, that the crucifixion of Jesus is the central event of Christianity, the Bible doesn't seem to be that interested in dwelling on the physical experiences of that moment.
SPEAKER_00: That instead the spiritual meaning seems much more important.
SPEAKER_00: And so that's our goal this morning is that through Luke's reporting, for us to see the meaning of the cross.
SPEAKER_00: And so I've put an outline in the back of the program that would be helpful to follow along.
SPEAKER_00: And it's really just an outline that brings about this main idea: the meaning of the cross, that Jesus faced judgment for sin in our place so that we can be saved.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus faced judgment for sin in our place so that we could be saved.
SPEAKER_00: And so, first, the meaning of the cross, Jesus faced judgment.
SPEAKER_00: And in particular, we're meant to see that Jesus is facing judgment for sin.
SPEAKER_00: And we could really see this picture of judgment all over our passage, but I just want us to pay attention to two signs that Luke gives us: Jesus' warning and God's display.
SPEAKER_00: First, Jesus' warning.
SPEAKER_00: Though one of the reasons we should know that the cross is about God's judgment is that that is what Jesus himself warns us about.
SPEAKER_00: And so look back at our reading in verse 27.
SPEAKER_00: We have a crowd of people and especially of women who are following Jesus and we're told that they are mourning and lamenting.
SPEAKER_00: It's a good reminder that not everyone was against Jesus at the time.
SPEAKER_00: Religious leaders, most of them were, and at least a certain amount of the crowd mob mentality were with them.
SPEAKER_00: But actually, much of Jerusalem, much of the Jewish people, were positive toward Jesus and open to seeing who he might be.
SPEAKER_00: It's also interesting to note that Luke, in particular, often highlights the positive response of the women around Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: In Luke's gospel, there is no female character that ever comes up as a negative skeptic or doubt of Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe an important reminder that as we celebrate Father's Day, a good reminder that men were often helped and saved from ourselves by the women in our lives.
SPEAKER_00: So it is in the New Testament, abundantly positive about the role of women.
SPEAKER_00: But yet, Jesus in verse 28, he does turn to the mourners.
SPEAKER_00: He doesn't rebuke them for their concern for him.
SPEAKER_00: Instead, he redirects his concern for them.
SPEAKER_00: Turning to them, Jesus said, verse 28, turning to them, Jesus said, daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me, but weep for yourselves and for your children.
SPEAKER_00: And he goes on to describe days that are coming when he says that barrenness and even death will be more desirable than the coming suffering.
SPEAKER_00: We've already heard Jesus talk this way.
SPEAKER_00: He's really talking immediately about the fall of Jerusalem, what we know happens in 70 AD.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus has already warned them about this.
SPEAKER_00: He wept over Jerusalem, and he described it in this way: that God's judgment was going to come to Jerusalem specifically for rejection of God's son.
SPEAKER_00: To put it in a different way, God was going to remove his protection from them, give them over to the consequences of their sin.
SPEAKER_00: And so in history, what we know is that the Jewish people rebelled against the occupation of Rome, and Rome had had enough.
SPEAKER_00: And so they came in in 7 AD and completely destroyed the city.
SPEAKER_00: Josephus, a Jewish historian of the time who ended up working with the Romans for a bit, he says that there were a million people who lost their lives during that time.
SPEAKER_00: That's probably a bit of an exaggeration, but almost the entire city and the population therein were destroyed.
SPEAKER_00: You see, this time of suffering was coming, and so Jesus, he describes it, he says, don't mourn for this, look ahead to the future.
SPEAKER_00: But what's also clear is that kind of the severity of the language, the apolyptic language that's used to describe the fall of Jerusalem and lots of other times in kind of historical suffering, it's most fully applied by Jesus to talk about the final judgment of God.
SPEAKER_00: There will come a time where God will act against sin and evil.
SPEAKER_00: In Revelation, it says that that will be the time when death will be desired rather than face judgment.
SPEAKER_00: You see, Jesus, he's going to the cross, and when people look at him and look at his suffering, he says, Don't look here, look at the judgment that is to come.
SPEAKER_00: That's what we're meant to see.
SPEAKER_00: I think that's why we have verse 26.
SPEAKER_00: So we have this kind of throwaway note about Simon from Cyrene carrying the cross.
SPEAKER_00: I think it is a picture of the spiritual reality of all people, that in a way, all of us on our own are on a journey towards judgment.
SPEAKER_00: That all of us would be kind of on this journey towards judgment.
SPEAKER_00: And so Jesus he warns and he says, this is about judgment.
SPEAKER_00: And then, secondly, you notice that God displays in picture form that same reality.
SPEAKER_00: And so Jesus' warning about judgment then gets enacted and acted out in the cosmic action of God.
SPEAKER_00: Look down in verse 44, we're about the moment of Jesus' death.
SPEAKER_00: And Luke tells us that it was now about the sixth hour, and there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour.
SPEAKER_00: And so in the first century world, they divided up the days into periods of time, hours, not 60 minutes like we do, but kind of chunks of time, most likely three-hour chunks.
SPEAKER_00: And so the sixth hour was probably about noon.
SPEAKER_00: And so the middle of the day, darkness.
SPEAKER_00: And maybe you've seen the articles and posts, so a lot has been said about trying to explain this darkness through kind of natural means, either to affirm the Bible or to disprove it.
SPEAKER_00: Notice that Luke wants nothing to do with that.
SPEAKER_00: Although throughout the Bible, see, darkness is a display of God's judgment.
SPEAKER_00: That God is making cosmically visual what is happening, that this is about judgment.
SPEAKER_00: And so think of it kind of like the Jaws theme, right?
SPEAKER_00: Or Imperial March from Star Wars.
SPEAKER_00: When those sounds come on, when you hear those songs, you know what's coming.
SPEAKER_00: Judgment.
SPEAKER_00: Trouble.
SPEAKER_00: So it is for darkness in the Bible.
SPEAKER_00: And so part of Jesus' mission is to tell us the truth that judgment is coming.
SPEAKER_00: And yet, notice that Jesus' mission is to face it first.
SPEAKER_00: It's explicit in verse 45 that the sun's light failed.
SPEAKER_00: The sun's light failed.
SPEAKER_00: The great light that at creation was to separate light from darkness, now for about three hours, has failed, almost as if creation itself is falling apart.
SPEAKER_00: The point is, something is drastically wrong.
SPEAKER_00: It's the type of language that was used to describe God's judgment for sin, that something is wrong and God eventually has to do something about it, and creation itself will suffer under the weight of evil.
SPEAKER_00: We use darkness in the same way in our stories and our movies.
SPEAKER_00: And so, what is wrong at the crucifixion?
SPEAKER_00: What is the injustice that is going on?
SPEAKER_00: Notice the Son of God being killed among the criminals.
SPEAKER_00: And perhaps more surprisingly than that is this picture where God Himself, rather than coming down to vindicate Jesus, would seemingly join in the judgment by painting darkness across the sky.
SPEAKER_00: Judgment is happening now.
SPEAKER_00: You see, the cross means judgment.
SPEAKER_00: So before we move on, I just want to acknowledge that sometimes bad news needs to be heard and seen.
SPEAKER_00: You know, sometimes bad news needs to be heard and seen.
SPEAKER_00: It's like the news from the doctor about the tumor that comes with the x-ray.
SPEAKER_00: You almost need to see it for it to be real.
SPEAKER_00: Or think about the kind of warning labels for uh smoking or for drugs.
SPEAKER_00: You know, when we were growing up, it was the egg cracking in the pan.
SPEAKER_00: This is your brain on drugs, or think about the advertisements for smoking.
SPEAKER_00: Apparently in the UK, um cigarettes have to come in a kind of pale green package with no branding or or logo, and instead just a graphic picture picture of what can happen if you smoke on a regular basis.
SPEAKER_00: You see, the bad news, it gets told by Jesus, but then it gets pictured by God Himself.
SPEAKER_00: The cross is about judgment.
SPEAKER_00: Number two.
SPEAKER_00: That Jesus, he faced judgment in our place.
SPEAKER_00: This is the meaning of the cross, where so many of the little details that Luke records for us can be shown.
SPEAKER_00: But we're gonna slow down and just look at two of them: the substitute and the sacrifice.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus faced judgment in our place as a substitute and as a sacrifice.
SPEAKER_00: And so, first the substitute, and so we're gonna look a uh look again at where we ended last week with this character of Barabbas.
SPEAKER_00: It's an interesting part of the story that Luke wants us to know that he that he names this criminal, this insurrectionist, the murderer who gets released by Pilate.
SPEAKER_00: And so this was a kind of a tradition that whenever the Passover was celebrated, Rome would release a Jewish prisoner, kind of as a sign of mercy, a picture of the deliverance that Passover celebrated.
SPEAKER_00: We never hear Barabbas speak.
SPEAKER_00: We know nothing about him rather than his guilt and his name.
SPEAKER_00: And we'll notice we're told about his guilt multiple times.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 19 and verse 25.
SPEAKER_00: He had been thrown into prison for insurrection and for murder, and so certainly someone who deserved death, an easy call for the Romans.
SPEAKER_00: In contrast, we saw Jesus is declared innocent over and over again.
SPEAKER_00: And so the picture is an exchange or a substitution.
SPEAKER_00: That Jesus the innocent, condemned to die, Barabbas the guilty, released to go free.
SPEAKER_00: You see, the cross means that there is a sub uh substitution going on.
SPEAKER_00: It's probably why Barabbas gets named.
SPEAKER_00: His name means son of the Father.
SPEAKER_00: Barabbas, the son of the Father, goes free because Jesus, the Son of God, goes to death.
SPEAKER_00: Luke wants to see Jesus in our place.
SPEAKER_00: That's also the picture in the sacrifice.
SPEAKER_00: And so the story goes on to tell us that this substitution is happening because Jesus is a sacrifice.
SPEAKER_00: He is the one who is taking on the judgment.
SPEAKER_00: And so look down in verse 23, Jesus, he's being led away to be crucified between the criminals.
SPEAKER_00: But as we said, Luke, he moves quickly past the crucifixion itself to the conversation.
SPEAKER_00: He wants us to hear the dialogue.
SPEAKER_00: That is where we see Jesus' intention at the cross.
SPEAKER_00: And so what does Jesus say?
SPEAKER_00: Verse 34, Father, forgive them.
SPEAKER_00: Forgive them, for they know not what they do.
SPEAKER_00: And so even as he's dying, his desire is for forgiveness.
SPEAKER_00: He's probably thinking in particular of the Roman soldiers who are there carrying out the execution, doing a great evil and yet somehow powerless to stop it.
SPEAKER_00: But Luke also wants us to know the broader significance.
SPEAKER_00: And so he repeats for us the ironic conversation of the crowd.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 35, the people stood by watching, but the rulers scoffed at him, saying, He saved others, let him save himself, if he is the Christ of God, his chosen one.
SPEAKER_00: You see, this is the conversation it's happening among the Jewish rulers who knew just enough to be dangerous.
SPEAKER_00: They knew just enough to be dangerous.
SPEAKER_00: And so they questioned Jesus' legitimacy, especially in relation to these two Old Testament titles Christ of God, the Messiah, the promised savior, the chosen one, the picture of the anointed or hand-picked favorite.
SPEAKER_00: And so, Jesus, you claim to be God's favorite.
SPEAKER_00: How could that be so if you are facing judgment?
SPEAKER_00: You see, they don't understand that Jesus is the sacrifice.
SPEAKER_00: And Luke, he brings it out in the irony of their scoffing, that Jesus would ultimately save others by not saving himself.
SPEAKER_00: That Jesus would be the Christ, the Savior, by being the sacrifice.
SPEAKER_00: And similar to the judgment and darkness, what Luke shows us in conversation, then God demonstrates for us in the details.
SPEAKER_00: And so the sacrifice that gets discussed then gets demonstrated.
SPEAKER_00: So look down in verse 45.
SPEAKER_00: While the darkness is going on and the sun's light is failing, verse 45, the curtain of the temple is torn in two.
SPEAKER_00: And so the curtain of the temple, this was a curtain that would separate kind of the most inner part of the temple from everywhere else.
SPEAKER_00: It was called the most holy place or the holies, the holy of holies.
SPEAKER_00: If you were in Christianity Explorer this past spring, Rico, he tells us that this curtain was a big keep out sign.
SPEAKER_00: Keep out, that sinners could not go into God's presence, that God could not just tolerate sin.
SPEAKER_00: And so you had the curtain that would keep people out, except under very certain circumstances.
SPEAKER_00: Once a year, with the blood of the sacrifice, on the Day of Atonement, the high priest would go into God's presence.
SPEAKER_00: Why?
SPEAKER_00: To affirm that the sacrifice would be accepted, that mercy would be given, at least for one more year.
SPEAKER_00: And so God, here in the moment of Jesus' death, he is demonstrating that the sacrifice has been accepted, bigger and more permanent, the curtain has no more use.
SPEAKER_00: The other gospel tells us that the curtain is torn into from top to bottom, as if God's own hand is doing it.
SPEAKER_00: Clearly saying that the way into God's presence is open.
SPEAKER_00: And as a final expression of continued commitment, of unity of God the Father and God the Son, in verse 46, Jesus calls out with a loud voice Into your hands I commit my spirit.
SPEAKER_00: He's quoting from Psalm 31, the one we read, Into your hands I commit my spirit.
SPEAKER_00: I have done the work.
SPEAKER_00: I commit myself to you.
SPEAKER_00: Trusting himself that the mercy and justice of God would be accepted and vintage.
SPEAKER_00: Indicated in his sacrifice.
SPEAKER_00: And notice Luke says, having said this, he breathes his last.
SPEAKER_00: It's noteworthy, you can look at this for yourself, but none of the gospel accounts actually speak of Jesus' death.
SPEAKER_00: Not to say he didn't die.
SPEAKER_00: They're all clear about that.
SPEAKER_00: He died, he was put in the tomb, everyone knew he was dead, but they don't speak of his death almost as a nod to the fact that he would not stay dead, that his death was not ordinary.
SPEAKER_00: Notice how the passion of the Christ might get it wrong that Jesus, in the moment of his crucifixion, he is at peace.
SPEAKER_00: He is in control.
SPEAKER_00: He has opened the way.
SPEAKER_00: He faced judgment in our place.
SPEAKER_00: Finally, so that we could be saved.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus faced judgment in our place so that we could be saved.
SPEAKER_00: And so, Luke, he's careful to record all the different responses to Jesus' death.
SPEAKER_00: I think he does it so that in a way we can kind of find ourselves in the story.
SPEAKER_00: So many different options.
SPEAKER_00: Consider the variety.
SPEAKER_00: We have the weeping women who see the tragedy so strongly.
SPEAKER_00: We have the scorning rulers and the soldiers who need to see past the death to see the sacrifice.
SPEAKER_00: We see the centurion who kind of sees enough to praise.
SPEAKER_00: The crowds see enough to regret.
SPEAKER_00: The acquaintances and the women watching at a distance.
SPEAKER_00: Even Joseph of Arimathea, he's trying to see the kingdom of God as he buries Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: But it's really the thief on the cross that sees most clearly.
SPEAKER_00: He sees what the cross means.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus faced judgment in our place so that we could be saved.
SPEAKER_00: I know for some of us we gave specific attention to the thief on the cross this past Good Friday, so I'm not going to repeat that sermon, but I will summarize it in this way.
SPEAKER_00: Remember that the thief on the cross, he sees the meaning of the cross through the ABCs.
SPEAKER_00: It's that simple.
SPEAKER_00: Kind of like learning your letters, the ABCs.
SPEAKER_00: That he is the character who admits that he would face God's judgment.
SPEAKER_00: The thief admits that he is justly facing God's judgment.
SPEAKER_00: See, that is a hard thing to admit.
SPEAKER_00: It's a hard thing to admit.
SPEAKER_00: Although it's pretty much a given that humanity is kind of the source of almost all the problems in the world.
SPEAKER_00: We are the problem.
SPEAKER_00: It's me.
SPEAKER_00: It's such a hard step to make it personal, to admit that we are part of the problem.
SPEAKER_00: We see this dynamic all through the cross story.
SPEAKER_00: So many signs that the world has gone wrong.
SPEAKER_00: We have the injustice of Jesus being betrayed condemned.
SPEAKER_00: We have the betrayal of Judas, the denial of Peter, the tragedy of an innocent man going to death.
SPEAKER_00: Most pointedly, the second criminal, arrogance until the very end.
SPEAKER_00: It's all other people's fault.
SPEAKER_00: But this criminal who we know is the thief, he sees it clearly.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 40.
SPEAKER_00: But the other rebuked him, saying, Do you not fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation?
SPEAKER_00: And we indeed justly, for we are receiving the due reward of our deeds.
SPEAKER_00: You see, in this moment, he knows what this is about.
SPEAKER_00: He is being judged justly, not just by the Romans, he says, but he says, Don't you fear God.
SPEAKER_00: Basically, what's going on here puts us at odds with God.
SPEAKER_00: We have lived the wrong way.
SPEAKER_00: Facing his death, realizing in the moment that he's about to stand before a perfect God and give account for his life, he's finally, for perhaps the first time, taken an honest assessment.
SPEAKER_00: He admits he deserves judgment.
SPEAKER_00: But then he goes on to be.
SPEAKER_00: He believes.
SPEAKER_00: He believes that Jesus is the way to be saved.
SPEAKER_00: It's a simple belief, really, but extraordinary in experience.
SPEAKER_00: Because look at the cross account.
SPEAKER_00: Everyone else is seeing failure and disappointment.
SPEAKER_00: He can't even save himself.
SPEAKER_00: He's claimed big things.
SPEAKER_00: He's just a fraud.
SPEAKER_00: The disciples have mostly abandoned him and hid.
SPEAKER_00: Even those who knew him were told they stay off at a distance watching.
SPEAKER_00: And yet the thief who's kind of there face to face with Jesus, he sees things clearly.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus dying in his place.
SPEAKER_00: He sees Jesus as the sacrificial king.
SPEAKER_00: We don't exactly know what he knew, how much he knew, but this is what he knew.
SPEAKER_00: He says, Remember me when you come into your kingdom.
SPEAKER_00: He says, I see in this moment the qualification of the king, the ability to go on into a kingdom.
SPEAKER_00: He knew just enough by some miracle that Jesus, even maybe especially in his death, was the king of God's kingdom.
SPEAKER_00: And so he asked the most blatant thing, remember me.
SPEAKER_00: Remember me.
SPEAKER_00: Who knows what he expected from that request?
SPEAKER_00: But he knew Jesus was his only chance.
SPEAKER_00: Even more than that, he seemed to have known that the only opinion of him that mattered was Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: The sacrifice in my place.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus' death meant he could be saved.
SPEAKER_00: And so the thief, he makes it personal.
SPEAKER_00: See, he confesses.
SPEAKER_00: He admits, he believes, he confesses.
SPEAKER_00: He makes it personal.
SPEAKER_00: This is just the point that salvation is not automatic, as we see in the story.
SPEAKER_00: Lots of people interact with Jesus in all sorts of ways, but the thief is the only one who gets the affirmation of Jesus that salvation is not automatic.
SPEAKER_00: That God has created us not just to be passive participants in this world.
SPEAKER_00: Our actions, they have impact and meaning and significance.
SPEAKER_00: And so it's fitting that even in salvation we would have to respond.
SPEAKER_00: We are not morally neutral actors.
SPEAKER_00: We have a part to play.
SPEAKER_00: But the part is as simple as learning the ABCs.
SPEAKER_00: For the thief, no time for turning his life around, no bargaining, no proving it, no earning it, no learning it even.
SPEAKER_00: Just a confession.
SPEAKER_00: Adding the me and the I to the admission and belief.
SPEAKER_00: So it's fitting, just an invitation.
SPEAKER_00: If you've not done that, then today could be the day.
SPEAKER_00: You know, unlike this thief on the cross, we don't often know when our last moment is.
SPEAKER_00: But Jesus, he breathes his last so that we could have the chance to start breathing life even today.
SPEAKER_00: You see, Jesus, he faced judgment in our place so that we could be saved.
SPEAKER_00: And we'll just end with this, with Jesus' response to the thief.
SPEAKER_00: If salvation for the thief was as easy as the ABCs, look how gracious salvation is for Jesus, even as he dies on the cross.
SPEAKER_00: A, he gives assurance.
SPEAKER_00: He gives assurance that when we admit we deserve judgment, he gives assurance that he has already taken it.
SPEAKER_00: For the thief, he has no more hope, no more time, no ability to demonstrate anything beyond this basic admission of need.
SPEAKER_00: And notice Jesus wastes no time in responding with assurance.
SPEAKER_00: Today, he says, Today, right away, no time to waste.
SPEAKER_00: And really, today is the answer that Jesus continues to give to anyone who comes to him for salvation.
SPEAKER_00: No delay, no disgruntled waiting game like we kind of do to each other.
SPEAKER_00: No, Jesus says today.
SPEAKER_00: He gives assurance.
SPEAKER_00: He also gives belonging.
SPEAKER_00: That Jesus responds to our belief with belonging.
SPEAKER_00: For the thief on the cross, he says, today you will be with me.
SPEAKER_00: You see, this is God's plan to save the world, not to save it and leave it alone, not to redeem your life so you can carry on without him, but God's plan is to make Jesus known in a way that the way to God would be open.
SPEAKER_00: The curtain would be torn open, that we would belong.
SPEAKER_00: That God would unite his future with us.
SPEAKER_00: That the Lord Jesus, even as he is alive today, he says that his life has started so that we could then continue and live with him, that his life is not complete until we are complete with him in perfection.
SPEAKER_00: See, we belong.
SPEAKER_00: The ABCs.
SPEAKER_00: Assurance, belonging, and finally change.
SPEAKER_00: You know, on the cross in that moment, everything changed for the criminal.
SPEAKER_00: All because Jesus said.
SPEAKER_00: He knew now that although he was facing death, and I'm sure he was experiencing the pain of death, the future had changed for him because he was promised paradise.
SPEAKER_00: It's a special word.
SPEAKER_00: It's a word that in the in the Greek translation of the Old Testament, it's the word that's used for the Garden of Eden.
SPEAKER_00: The garden experience.
SPEAKER_00: It's the word that's then used in the book of Revelation when God says all things have been made new.
SPEAKER_00: Paradise.
SPEAKER_00: The place of promise for all who would trust in salvation through Jesus, a sure and perfect future where everything will be made right, a recreated world for a renewed people.
SPEAKER_00: And this is the change that started and found fulfillment almost instantly for the thief on the cross, but also the change that is offered to all of us.
SPEAKER_00: New life starting now, going into eternity.
SPEAKER_00: And so I wonder.
SPEAKER_00: For Barabbas, perhaps he truly did become a son of the Father.
SPEAKER_00: For Simon of Cyrene, he must have realized what the cross meant.
SPEAKER_00: Mark's gospel tells us that he was known to the church, and Romans seems to allude to his son being a member of the church in Rome.
SPEAKER_00: Perhaps carrying the cross realized that judgment would face him apart from Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: So many in the crowd, those who scorned and looked with regret at Jesus, in Acts 2, thousands of them said their hearts were cut when they heard the call to respond in faith.
SPEAKER_00: For the centurion, when he asked this question, why would Jesus the innocent have to die?
SPEAKER_00: Perhaps he found the answer.
SPEAKER_00: And even for Joseph, what an interesting character.
SPEAKER_00: Most likely he had bought that tomb and prepared that tomb for himself.
SPEAKER_00: And so what an interesting experience to have then gone back to the tomb three days later and found that Jesus only needed it for the weekend.
SPEAKER_00: And then finally, as we'll see next week, Jesus found his disciples once again and he opened their eyes to see.
SPEAKER_00: You see, Jesus, he has a long history of saving people who have come to understand the cross.
SPEAKER_00: And for each, he changes their life.
SPEAKER_00: You see, when we look at the cross, the meaning is much more significant than the experience.
SPEAKER_00: That although it might be right and good, that on certain days and certain times we might dwell over the physical experience of the cross, most certainly what we do each and every Sunday is we understand the meaning and we even celebrate the belonging.
SPEAKER_00: And so when you think of the cross, you know, there's an old song, Were You There, when they nailed him to the tree.
SPEAKER_00: It's a helpful song to kind of realize that it was our guilt that took him there, but I think Luke would have said it a little differently.
SPEAKER_00: Were you there when you saw him as your sacrifice?
SPEAKER_00: That's the crowd to be in.
SPEAKER_00: The crowd started with this thief and then added with those who scorned and collected by the disciples.
SPEAKER_00: The cross of those who would have their lives changed by seeing he took judgment in our place so that we could be saved.
SPEAKER_00: Just be clear, that is what it means to be a Christian.
SPEAKER_00: It is not our connection to the church, it is not our assent to certain theological doctrines, it is not our position in the United States or anything like that.
SPEAKER_00: Instead, it is our personal assessment of the simple ABCs of Christianity.
SPEAKER_00: It's not saved by a changed life, not saved by full knowledge, not saved by perfect understanding, and yet saved by an admission and a belief and a confession.
SPEAKER_00: Yes, Jesus, remember me.
SPEAKER_00: Let's pray that we'll grow in that even this morning.
SPEAKER_00: Heavenly Father, we thank you for this word and we pray that by your Spirit you would help parts of it that would be especially useful for us to lodge themselves in our hearts and our minds.
SPEAKER_00: Lord, I do pray for each person here that we would have the assurance that comes from being remembered by you.
SPEAKER_00: Would you love help us to grow in the confidence of knowing that we belong in your family, that the way has been opened, you are not keeping us at a distance.
SPEAKER_00: And would you be working the change in us that starts when we come to you and we believe would continue until we are perfect with you in eternity?
SPEAKER_00: Help us to hold on to that this morning, to be among those who see you on the cross and understand the meaning as our sacrifice.
SPEAKER_00: We pray in Jesus' name.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.