Luke chapter 23. Let me pick up the reading at verse 42. And he said, Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom. He said to him, truly I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise. Let's again look to the book. Father, we are gathered here in your name, believing that when we gather here, you are present in a very special way. You have promised, Lord, to be there in the midst of your people. And so we covet that more than we covet anything else. We want you to be present here. We want to have heart dealing with you. We want to see more of who you are, more of what you've done for us, so that we can live in light of those glorious gospel realities. but come by your Holy Spirit, draw near to each one of us. May we all have a sense, Lord, that you are here in this place. And we pray this in Christ's name. Amen. It's obvious that Jesus was not executed alone. There were two other men who were executed on either side. You really have here a triple crucifixion. They are identified as criminals. In fact, Luke uses that word. It's only used four times in all of the Gospels, that word criminal. It's used three times here by Luke, verse 32, verse 33, and verse 39. I think Luke really wants us to know just how bad these guys were. They were guilty of high crimes. You didn't get crucified for petty crimes. You could even be a thief, and that wouldn't justify crucifixion. You probably had a case here of these two guys who were thieves, even murderers. And even, it's possible they were somewhat revolutionaries or terrorists. And as you know, sin is progressive, just like grace is progressive. So is sin, and maybe things started out with these guys when they were five or six. That's when they started stealing pennies from the beggar on the street. Maybe around the age of 13 or 14 they joined the local gangs and began to steal on Friday nights. It was something of a thrill, a real game they loved to play. But they never dreamed that they would one day be hanging on a cross for their crime. But here they are in their last hours, their final hours, and what they don't realize, I don't think they did, is that they're going to soon be plunged into eternity. There's a greater judgment, isn't there? There's a greater death that they will experience. But there may have been, we don't know for sure, there may have been a thousand different hills throughout the Roman Empire that were chosen for crucifixion. This one is specially named as Golgotha, the place of the skull. It had become something of a killing field. I think it was shaped like a skull, but perhaps it also was the big place or the designated place outside of Jerusalem. Perhaps hundreds, even thousands of men had been crucified at this place called Calvary or Golgotha. Generally women were not crucified. But what makes this story a story, and why it's in our Bible, is not because the thieves were there, but because Christ was there. And one of them engages Jesus, not just in an ordinary, normal, conversational way, but in a spiritual way, a faith encounter takes place. And no one would ever have dreamed this, written a script like this, what are the chances of this happening? How many places were there again in the Roman Empire where people were crucified? Perhaps hundreds or thousands of them. And this man could have been crucified in any one of those places the day before or the day after. But if on this particular day, this particular place, any other place, he would have gone to hell. But he's here beside Jesus, and he goes to heaven. God, from all eternity, had planned to save this sinner in the eleventh hour. And I want us to zoom lens this particular thief, this criminal, and see how he came to know the Lord. And there's four verbal actions here that shape the narrative. Notice what they are. You have a word of scorn or disdain, a word of scorn, disdain. Secondly, a word of sin and remorse. Thirdly, a word of hope and faith. And then last, you have here a word of comfort and promise. So that's how we want to consider this thief on the cross by way of these four verbals, a word of scorn, a word of A word of hope or faith and a word of comfort. First of all, notice here a word of disdain or scorn. Whenever people were crucified, at least in these public places, it was, as you see, it was a public spectacle. And what they did to add to the psychological and emotional trauma was that they would be crucified naked. The first time naked is mentioned in the Bible, it's mentioned in a positive way. They were naked and unashamed. And as soon as they sin, they are naked and they are ashamed. Jesus is naked. He's entering the full depths of our sin and our shame. That's why he's there. But why is everybody else there? There's a lot of other people here. Well, most of them are there to gaze, to gawk. One commentator says this became something of a blood sport where people would come just to watch it, watch the gore. And Luke describes these folk here as watchers or onlookers. In verse 35 he mentions there were also mockers. And the mockers here, or the scorners, are composed of three basic groups. Most of the crowd, you have the soldiers, and you have these religious leaders, but even the criminals themselves, these two criminals, can't resist, and they jump into the fray. Now, that's not recorded here in Luke's Gospel, but Matthew's Gospel. Listen to what Matthew says. Matthew 27, verse 4, which is the paraphrase, verse 44, and the robbers, plural, the robbers, who were crucified with him reviled him in the same way. So both of these thieves, both of these criminals are happily engaged in yelling, screaming, obscenities, insults at Jesus. And we shouldn't think that one was better than the other. That one had a nicer disposition or a gentler, softer kind of a guy. No, they are both hardcore criminals, perhaps partners in crime. And they have no qualms, either one of them, of using their tongues to viciously attack this innocent man. And Luke captures some of the blasphemous thoughts or words that came from the mouth of one of them. Verse 39, Are you not the Christ? Save yourself and save us. Here, big miracle worker, do your stuff. Prove to us who you are. You are the Christ, that's what they say. This one thief is clutching, you could say, the last straw, hoping that he can somehow prolong his life, maybe thinking, just only thinking really about himself. It's really what you have here is rank selfishness. This is how most people die, by the way. They die cursing God. They die angry, thinking God owes them. No hint of fear of God. No hint of concern for their souls. One of the most sad and tragic things is to witness people dying who don't care for their own souls. Not a fuss. And when you listen to these two guys scorning and showing disdain towards Jesus, it really shouldn't surprise us. heart of man, isn't it? It's the heart of enmity towards God. Men hate God. They curse God. But everything up to this point, you could say, is pretty dark and ugly until, until something changes. And it happens instantaneously. There's a, you could say, an intrusion of grace into one of these men's hearts. A stunning reversal in an instant. One of these criminals changes. And the first indication we have, I think I would say, is silence. You know that silence can be a sign of God's working grace in a man's life? He stops talking, stops bragging, shuts his mouth. Remember what Paul says, the law of God is given to stop the mouth or silence the mouth of the sinner. Up to this point, both of them, you could say, were blaspheming Jesus. Both are using their tongues, wagging their tongues against the Lord. But suddenly one of them stops, and it wasn't so much to catch his breath, but there's something going on in his heart, in his mind. There's a conviction or a sorrow of sin. And that brings us to our second consideration. We saw a word of scorn and disdain, but secondly, a word of guilt and remorse. Verse 40, notice what this one criminal, we don't have names here, But look what he says, verse 40, Do you not fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? And notice here, he indicts himself. He's not finger-pointing here. We, he says, we indeed justly are receiving the reward of our deeds. Well, what's happening here? Well, this criminal, This guy who is a partner in crime is no longer a partner in crime. One of the dying theists' consciences, which look like a dead battery, is starting to function. There's light here. It's firing. It's sparking. Something is happening inside this man's heart. Suddenly he sees himself as a sinner. And he brings God into the picture. Sin is not just a crime against humanity. It is that. But sin is against God. And what do you think triggered this man's chain? What brought him under serious conviction? Well, it could have been a combination of things. It could have been that he'd heard about Jesus. I mean, Jesus has had a public ministry for three and a half years, and as you know, everybody was talking about Jesus. He might have even heard of His miracles, and heard some of the things that He preached, and maybe even heard that this man Jesus is receiving publicans and sinners, and that might have been things that played in upon His mind, but for the most part, up to this point anyways, He's treated it all with indifference and callousness. Who cares? But suddenly, Suddenly, he's connecting the dots. At the cross, things are starting to line up. Perhaps it was that. Perhaps it was the mocking and the scorning that he was hearing from the crowd. And they were using words like King and Christ and Savior. Perhaps that's triggered his thinking. Maybe it was the placard. Remember the placard that was put above the head of Jesus? What did it read? The King of the Jews. Maybe it was that. But I think what it was more than anything else, you go back to verse 34, he heard the prayer of Jesus. He heard the prayer of Jesus while they were nailing Jesus to the cross. He heard with his own ears. He never heard a prayer like that. This man is praying for his enemies. Father, forgive them. They know not what they do. has been able to access, observe, investigate, analyze, put all of the pieces of the puzzle together, and the alarm bell in his conscience is blaring, you're guilty, you're guilty, you're guilty. He's like the publican in Luke chapter 18 who came to that painful recognition, I am a sinner, God be merciful to me, the sinner. It's not easy for people to admit they're sinners. We have a hard time as Christians admitting we're sinners, right? I don't mind telling my wife I struggle with pride, but I don't like her when she tells me I struggle with pride. It's not easy to admit we're sinners. But this man admits he's a sinner. He's experiencing grief and pain of soul. And it's clear, is it not, that something radical or transformative is taking place in this man's life. Because not only does he realize that he's a guilty sinner, that he deserves to die, that he's there on that cross because of his crimes, but he realizes this man, Jesus, doesn't deserve to die. Verse 41, he makes that point, doesn't he? This man's done nothing wrong. We're here because of our guilt and because of our crime, but this man Jesus, he shouldn't be on the cross. We should be on the cross. We deserve this kind of punishment and this death, but he doesn't. He realizes that I'm a sinner, but this man Jesus is innocent. This man Jesus is not a sinner. I deserve to die, but he doesn't deserve to die. There's been a terrible injustice here, a travesty of injustice. A word of scorn, a word of sin or remorse. Thirdly, notice here, as we work our way through the language here of this thief on the cross, a word of hope and faith. Now the thief begins to turn his attention to Jesus. He's going to talk to Jesus. They're going to make a request. Now think about it. This is a guy whose life, perhaps 99.9.9% of his life, he's been a taker. He's just taken from people. Stealed. Robbed. He's been living a totally self-centered life. He's like that prodigal son. You know, Dad, give me everything I want. And then he takes off. He gives nothing. He's only been living for Himself. And now He wants to receive. Can you believe it? After all He's done, all the pain, all the wreckage, all the hurt, all the wounded people, all the people He's killed. And here at the back end of His life, He wants Jesus to help Him. I mean, if someone came to you like that, wouldn't you say, how dare you? Shut up and die. This is the first time in the Bible, this is going to sound strange to your ears, the first time in the Bible that someone uses the word Jesus off their own lips. First time in the Bible. that someone actually uses the word Jesus, and it comes off their lips. Now people obviously, his mother and dad, they were told to call him Jesus, and they would have called him Jesus, but this is the only first time in Scripture where that word, the name Jesus, comes off the lips of a person. It comes off the lips of a thief, a criminal, And what does he want from Jesus? Notice what he says, Remember me when you come into your kingdom. And notice the word he uses. It's a very significant Bible word. If you know the Gospels, this word comes up again and again. Kingdom. Kingdom. It's a significant word. When Jesus came preaching, he preached the kingdom of God is at hand. But he obviously sees Jesus as more than just a mere man. He sees Jesus as a king who has a kingdom. But look at the king. I mean, does he look like a king? He's utterly powerless. You'd have to say, are you crazy? He's nailed to a tree? He's helpless? He's beat up? He's scarred? He's nailed? He's bloodied? A king? Are you delusional? Where's his kingdom? What's this guy thinking? How can anyone rule or have a kingdom when he's hanging on a cross? Unless it's a different kingdom. A spiritual kingdom. An eternal kingdom. A kingdom that's ruled by grace. A kingdom that rules hearts and minds. A kingdom that rules over sin and conquers sin and the devil. Maybe, I don't know, maybe the thief knew exactly who this king was and how he was going to establish his kingdom, not by a sword, but by a cross. But he knows this king can save his soul. He knows that. This is a cry of faith. Remember me in your kingdom. This man has faith. He has hope of eternal life found in Jesus. A word of scorn, a word of sin or remorse, a word of hope and faith, and then the last thing we have here, Verbal, the fourth verbal, a word of comfort and promise. And what does Jesus do? Well, let me ask you, what would you do? If you had someone who cursed you, someone who treated you like dirt, scum, even on your deathbed walked into your bedroom and began to curse you up and down, and then the very last moment he said, could you give me a million dollars? What would you say? You'd say, go jump in the lake. That'd be the nice version. You'd say, no, my friend, you're getting what you deserve. Don't come asking me for anything. Get lost. Get lost. But Jesus doesn't say that. No cold shoulder. No reluctant pause. Let me think about this. But a hair-trigger response. A hair-trigger response of mercy and grace. Verse 43, And he said to him, Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise. Jesus uses that Amen words. Truly. Verily. Don't have any does, my friend. Truly. Verily. Surely. Jesus says, yes, my friend. What you ask, I will give. And look what he says. Today. No waiting period. No temporary period or place like purgatory. You don't have to go somewhere to merit or hopefully have some friends on earth pay some indulgences so you can get out of there. No, the moment you die, the moment you enter heaven in paradise. Think of our sister Denise. She died at 8 o'clock Monday morning. Where did she go? immediately into the presence of Christ. Immediately. No time delay. The moment you die, you behold Jesus in all his glory. That's really what makes heaven heaven, by the way. The thief on the cross has been described as the most unlikely believer in the Bible. I think you could put it In a more positive way, the greatest believer in the Bible. I mean, think of it. Think of when he's believing on Jesus. Not when Jesus is walking on water. Not when Jesus is still in a storm. Not when he's on the Mount of Transfiguration. I mean, seeing Jesus in his glory, that would have been a nice place to see Jesus and say, wow, wow. Yeah, this is the Savior. But when he's on a cross, dying, weak, helpless, when everybody else had abandoned him and were laughing and mocking at him, he believed on Jesus. What faith! Extraordinary faith. Well, that's the exposition. And I have, believe it or not, this might frighten you, five applications. But they're very, very brief. I mean, you can put almost one word applications here, okay? And they came to me this week, and again, kind of a way to put them all together. Here's what we learn by this story of the thief on the cross. Number one, it's never too late to believe. It's never too late to believe. How many people would have wrote this guy off as hopeless? He'll never change, but he did. He did. God got a hold of him in the eleventh hour. He found Christ at the very last hour of his life. And that should encourage every sinner. You can talk to any sinner, no matter how little time they have in their life. You can speak to them of the gospel. God can save people at the very last minute, the eleventh hour. And so we should encourage people to keep looking to Jesus as long as you have breath. It's never too late. Second application, one is never too bad. The guy was bad. Let's not say he wasn't. He was a terrible guy. He would have been locked in a prison, life term. He would have been put on a death row. He would have been a guy who's dangerous to society, a child molester, a rapist, a murderer. But he gets saved. There's nobody who's beyond the grace of God. Nobody who sins too much. No one who indulges in sin so much so that they have no hope. The gospel is for sinners. It doesn't say what degree of sinners. You've got scandalous sinners and you've got respectable sinners, but we're all sinners. There's no, never too late, never too bad, third application, never presume. There's two criminals here. Only one gets saved. Only one gets saved, not both. Both heard, both saw all the things together. One gets saved, not the other. And that happens in life. Some are saved in the very hour of death. Not everybody is. I believe my father, and I wouldn't say this without real thought and even having testimony from others who engaged my father on his deathbed, I really believe my father had a deathbed conversion. I had no hope for my mother. No hope for my mother. Did she go to be with the Lord? She could have. God could have done something in secret, in private, I don't know. But I had no encouragement that my mother went to heaven. Don't assume. Don't assume that a deathbed conversion will be yours. The longer people live, the harder the heart becomes. Most people are saved in their young years. Right? Children, teenagers, early twenties. You get into the late twenties, early thirties, yet it still happens. Forties, yet it happens. But you see less and less and less. Don't assume you can come to Jesus whenever you feel like it, at any stage of life. Salvation is always an urgent matter. Today is the day of salvation. Don't wait, don't assume that you'll have another day or that you'll even have a deathbed where you'll be even conscious and have a change of heart. J.C. Riles says, Beware of presumption. Do not abuse God's mercy and compassion. Do not continue in sin. I beseech you and say to you, or don't say to yourself, I can repent, I can believe, I can be saved just when I like, when I please, when I will, when I choose. Don't presume. Never too late, never too bad, never presume, forth never, never lose hope. Never lose hope. Every one of us, probably sitting here tonight, knows people, have people in our lives, we love them, they're loved ones, family members, perhaps friends, people you've known for years, you've talked to them about the gospel, you've prayed for them, there's been sometimes encouraging conversations, but you haven't seen a change. Maybe they've heard the gospel thousands of times, 10,000 times, 10,000 times, no change whatsoever. And it seems they're getting harder and harder, more indifferent, and you feel hopeless yourself. But that thief on the cross should encourage every one of us not to give up. We live in an age of quitters and dropouts. And we can quit praying. We can quit praying. You've heard the story of George Muller? He prayed for a friend for sixty-three years and eight months. One man's conversion. Sixty-three years and eight months. He wasn't saved, and yet Muller said he will be. How can he not be, said Muller? I am praying. And the day did come when the man was saved. You know when he was saved? When they were lowering Muller into a grave. At Muller's gravesite. He came to know the Lord. Never give up. Never lose hope. Never too late. Never too bad. Never presume, never lose hope, never forget, that's the last one. Never forget, people are saved by grace. You want an example of a man who could do nothing, absolutely nothing, to earn his way to heaven? It's the thief on the cross. I mean, what can the guy do? He can't get baptized. He can't give money to the church. He can't do any good deeds, any religious performance. He can't lift a finger. He can't scratch his nose. What can he do? What can he do to earn salvation? Absolutely nothing. How does he get saved? By grace and grace alone. And children, listen, because no matter how much your dad and mom tell you that it's by grace and grace alone, it's amazing how children hold on to their own salvation by works. I've been shocked sometimes. People sat in a church for 10, 15 years and heard the gospel preached The gospel of grace. And when you ask them, why do you think you're going to heaven? Well, I'm a good person. I had a man in our church for years. I met with him time and time again and said, why do you think you want to become a member of our church? I said, why do you think I'm a Christian? I live a good life. He repeated that over and over and he couldn't get it. He couldn't get it. You're not saved by your works. No matter how good you are as children, as a person, you might be a wonderful young man. You're not saved by works. You're only saved by grace. You bring nothing, absolutely nothing to the table but yourself as a sinner. That's all God wants. Come as a sinner with empty hands. Bring nothing but yourself as a sinner. That's what makes this such a wonderful story. It's a story of free, sovereign grace. You can't explain it any other way. That's the only hope for any of us. We're saved by grace. Free grace and grace alone. I hope that's who you're trusting. Jesus and Jesus alone. That's the only hope we have. Let's pray. Father, we thank you for these stories in our Bible. We thank you for these faith encounters that men, women, even children had with Christ. May that encourage us as we think of others, as we pray for the lost, as we evangelize the lost, Oh Lord, work in the hearts of sinners. Show grace, show mercy. May even there be sinners here tonight who cry out like that publican or like that thief on the cross. Jesus, remember me. Show grace, show mercy. Show yourself to be the Savior that you are. And we pray this in Christ's name. Amen.