as we preach and teach his word. Luke chapter 23, we'll begin in verse 32. And there were also two other malefactors led with him to be put to death. And when they were come to the place which is called Calvary, there they crucified him and the malefactors, one on the right hand and the other on the left. Then said Jesus, Father forgive them for they know not what they do. And they parted his raiment and cast lots. And the people stood beholding. Understand what they're beholding is three men nailed to rugged crosses, nailed in hands and feet. And Jesus, of course, in the middle has already been beaten with a whip. And that's what they're beholding. And the rulers also with them derided him. which means they made fun of him, they mocked him, saying, he saved others, let him save himself if he be Christ, the chosen of God. And the soldiers also mocked him, coming to him and offering him vinegar and saying, if thou be the king of the Jews, save thyself. And a superscription also was written over him in letters of Greek and Latin, This is the king of the Jews. And one of the malefactors which were hanged railed on him saying, if thou be Christ, save thyself and us. But the other answering rebuked him, saying, Dost thou not fear God, seeing thou art in the same condemnation? And we indeed justly, for we receive the due reward of our deeds. But this man hath done nothing amiss. And he said unto Jesus, Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom. Said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, Today shalt thou be with me in paradise. Let's go to the Lord in prayer. Father, I pray you'll help me to say what I need to. Help me, Lord, to refrain from things I shouldn't say. I pray for your anointing. Help us to share, Lord, what you've laid on our heart. I pray somehow, someway we could lift you up today. There'll be any lost that's here, Lord. Any religious but lost, Lord. Could be very religious but lost. I pray you'll show them their need from this passage of scripture. And for those who are saved, that you would draw us closer to the cross than when we came this morning. In Jesus' name, amen. Title of my message this morning is The Two Thieves at Calvary. Now the word Calvary is a Latin word talking about the skull. The skull, I'll have to quit getting out of my southern drawl here, I'll work on that. Matthew 27, 33, and where they were coming to a place called Golgotha, this is to say a place of a skull. So the word skull is connected to what this rock formation looked at on this hill called Calvary. At that time, it resembled a skull. It looked like that. It reminded people of that. It reeked with death as many had been crucified and died and blood soaked this dirt on this hill. And many people had died on Calvary or Golgotha's Hill. And so these two thieves today in this passage of scripture, I want to look at them particularly because What one thing as I began to prepare this and study and meditate upon this, the Lord kept weaving the Roman's road in my heart, the Roman scripture on how to be saved and what the scriptures mean to us. And so I'm gonna use those within this message today. So number one, I wanna look at these two things, understand they had a death sentence. The Bible tells us here in Luke 23, 32, where we started a minute ago. And there were also two other malefactors led with him. So they walked up the cross, the Via Della Rosa, as it was called, this pathway, this road, as they carried their own crosses. And then they were laid down and they had to be forced. And I don't really believe Jesus was forced, but I know he suffered. But they had to be nailed to these crosses. And then they would pick these crosses up all kind of historical disagreements on what took place on the cross, how they were built, how they were made. Some say they were two pieces of stylus and another piece that was there that would be put into the ground. And some believe that they would pull them up with ropes and then they would sink down into the dirt. And you can imagine the pain of that when you're already nailed to this cross. And these two thieves, The scripture says they were led with him to be put to death. So in essence, they're on death row. I don't know if you've ever known anybody on death row or not, but I preached in the prisons before and I remember this young man, he attacked a police officer in a stock in Pickens County. He stole the car, shot one of them, but he got caught and he killed the police officer. And he was a young guy, probably about 18 to 20, something in that range. And he was pretty famous when we went in there to visit, to preach to the other inmates. And he happened to be in there as well. And it just changed everything knowing he was there because he had so defied the law. He killed a policeman. And we knew he was on course that if he didn't get killed while he was in the cell, So somebody could say and claim that they killed a cop killer just for cred steep street cred in the jail, sort of speak, that he was on death row one day he would be sentenced to death. And it just put a darkness over the whole thing. And of course, we preached the gospel to him. But then later on down the line found out that someone killed him in the prison. And so he had a death sentence even before the government ever sentenced him to death. And I want to remind you and I that there's a lot of things you and I have in common with these thieves on the cross. We have a death sentence on us. The Bible teaches us that. We have a destiny that is much like these two thieves. As these two thieves, one on the left and one on the right, they no doubt had other differences of who they were and how they were raised. But on this day, there was a lot of things that they had in common, many things that made them alike. They were the same. And the Bible says they were two malefactors that were put to death. Matthew 27 verse 38 said there were two thieves. crucified. So we know according to the scripture that they were thieves, that they had stolen things, they had broken the law, and they had been caught, and now they had had some time in prison, and now they were going to fulfill their death sentence. The Bible says this in the book of Romans, as I mentioned. The Romans road is supposed to begin us at a place to understand who Jesus is and who we are in the scale of all things eternal. That Jesus is the Savior, amen? And that you and I are the sinners in this role. And we don't all say amen to that. We don't like to accept that one. But the Bible says this in Romans 3.23. For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. You may have never stolen anything. You may have not done this or not done that, but according to the Bible, and God has a pure holy record of whether you've ever sinned in your life. And according to the Bible, all of us have, all of us are sinners, and all of us have fallen, no matter what the distance is, all of us has fallen short of the glory of God. and that is you and that is me. And on this day, these two thieves on each side of the Lord Jesus Christ, it really wouldn't matter if you could say, well, I'm in here for a stealing a million dollars and I'm only over here for stealing $10,000, but they're both gonna die for being thieves. And you and I are all going to die because we're sinners. Amen? And that's what's going on on this hill that day. And so the Bible also says this in Romans 6 23, for the wages of sin is death. Now that has more to that verse that we're going to get to go back to and look at a little bit later. But the thought is sin has a payday on it. Amen? and it always ends in death. And so these two thieves are nailed to the cross. And I want to point out to you that they're on what we would call death row, so to speak, and they would be in the prison waiting for this certain day. And I'm no doubt very confident that they knew when that day was coming, even though they might not know weeks ahead, but they would know like tomorrow, boys, you're going to die. Can you imagine the feet, the other prisoners and maybe the soldiers and maybe others involved wanting to remind them? Now you say, well, well, we should, that's kind of cruel to be reminded that one day you're going to die. And that's why a lot of people don't like preaching from the Word of God that reminds them that we're sinners and reminds us that we're going to die and reminds us of a judgment. And they criticize preachers like me for preaching the truth. But the thing is, you can you can embrace this. You can let this empower you with knowledge to know that, listen, I am going to die. I do have a destiny to die in my sins and go to hell. But there is something more available to me. Now these two thieves at the moment in time are very much alike. And from their own words coming out of their mouth as they hung on their own crosses, had their own problem to deal with. the heart is revealed of what's on their mind. They're also influenced by the priests and the scribes and the elders out in the crowd as they're mocking Jesus. And they're making fun. Isn't it interesting, church, to know that you never hear one of them say anything about the thief on the right-hand side. You sure are a bad thief. You got caught. Boy, you're gonna die. You're a sorry load. They never mocked the thieves, did they? They only mocked the man in the middle. Only Jesus took the mockery. You know why? It's satanically induced in influence. It was the devil attacking him. It was them attacking and rejecting him as the Messiah, as the Christ, as the Son of God. And I'll tell you, when it comes to the end of it all, that's what sends people to hell when they have rejected Jesus Christ as Savior. They're rejecting the best gift that God could ever offer in who His Son Jesus Christ is. These thieves are on each side being influenced by the crowd and outside there listening and spectating. The Bible even said they watched him there. There is history that says that there were times that families would gather around events like this and almost have like a picnic. They would eat and they would almost celebrate the death of these criminals. Now that's morbid to me. Regardless, even if that thief had stolen from you, it'd be pretty hard-hearted if you just watched him die in this manner. But this was a very death-influenced culture in these days of the Roman Empire. Hearts were very darkened and cold. I see the same kind of thing approaching in America today. It's getting worse. And the Bible says in Matthew 27, 41, likewise, also the chief priest, this is the spiritual leaders, the example, mocking him, not the thieves, but mocking Jesus with the scribes and the elders said, he saved others, himself he cannot save. If he be the king of Israel, let him come now down, let him now come down from the cross and we will believe him. They wanted him to pull his hands off the nails, rip his legs off the nails, and jump down off the cross, and then they would believe. It's amazing what we think in our hearts sometimes, how far it must have to go before we will really believe. There are some of you that have sat through thousands of my sermons, and you still have never truly believed upon who Jesus Christ is. You've never made him your personal savior. You just kind of joining in with the rejection and the mocking with other religious figures around because you've never seen him as the savior of your soul. Maybe you're still thinking somehow some way you're gonna get out of it or get away with it or somehow there's some way you're just not gonna face what you're facing. The Bible goes on to say in Matthew 27, 43, as they continue to mock Jesus, he trusted God. Let him deliver him now. Well, can you imagine how that would attack who Jesus was? Every prayer he'd ever prayed attacking him that he's trusting in God, who Jesus declared was his own father. And he said, you trusted God, your father will let him save you. For he said, I am the Son of God. They did not believe that Jesus was the Son of God. Now, I want to bring this out, Matthew 27, 44. You can follow along or just, you know, pay attention. And if you are asleep, then draw eyeballs on your eyelids and fool me, amen. Just try to stay in here with me. The Bible says in Matthew 27, 44, the thieves, two of them, also which were crucified with him cast the same in his teeth. What does that mean? That means their own mouth out of their own jaws They cast forth the same mockery and said it with their own mouth while they're hanging on the cross dying. They mocked and they derided and they rejected who Jesus was. The reason I point this out is I worked with a man who was of the Church of Christ denomination. He believed that you had to be baptized in order to be saved. This very story here rebukes that doctrine. because this man on the cross had no way to get baptized after calling on the Lord. Just minutes before, he made fun of Jesus even while he was on self was dying. He joined in with the leadership of the priesthood and he mocked him. He rejected him. He derided him. He did not believe that Jesus was the Messiah. There was a time, a moment that they were much alike as they embraced this death sentence, faced their destiny, and they rejected who the Lord Jesus Christ really was. I want to keep that in mind. I want you to understand that. Now I want to bring out a few points of the difference between these two thieves. Something changes along the way. Now notice in Luke chapter number 23, As it talks about the place of Calvary and the two thieves wrapped around Jesus there on the left and the right, Jesus speaks for the first time, Brother Donnie, and he says, Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do. That thief on the right-hand side of the cross is starting to see and hear Jesus communicating while he's dying, offering himself as a sacrifice. talking to his heavenly father. And that evidence begins to stack up. Something begins to change and speak to this thief on the cross. He is beginning to see Jesus in a different way. The thief on the right side starts hearing things. Can you imagine hearing Jesus? Father? He speaks out. They mocked him. God's not your father. If God is your God, he's going to deliver you. Then where's he at? Let him come. And he's still in meekness and humility and obedience to Jesus says, Father, forgive. Thank God for that verse. Father, forgive them for they know not what they do. In fact, you'll see Jesus as Savior and yourself as a sinner. That's the day that you can truly say. You're one step closer to Calvary's true meaning. You can truly get saved because you admit that, you know, there are maybe somebody here today. If you were facing God face to face, I mean, I mean, just right there. You would probably argue with him and saying, I'm not that bad, God. I know the preacher says everybody's a sinner and everybody falls short of the glory of God, but he don't know my case. I know people much worse. I know a lot of hypocritical church people. I'm not that bad, God. I don't require this for me. I'm a different case. And there are billions of people who feel that way in the world. But the Bible is the final authority and the Bible says all have sin and come short of the glory of God. The Bible teaches us that the wages of sin is death. And when you see Calvary and what you need to see is something spiritual beyond death and beyond sin and beyond judgment. You need to look to that man in the middle, the Lord Jesus Christ, as Savior. You need to see him as the true Messiah, the true Christ, the true Redeemer and Deliverer. Do you know the word salvation means deliverance? This man, even though he has a death sentence and a destiny, he's going to be delivered pretty soon while he's still on the cross. How could that even be? Because what we're talking about is a spiritual deliverance. He would not end up, Brother Matt, being the only one taken off the cross and taken to emergency care and being held up with his wounds and somehow restored to life to go out there and live another day. He's the only survivor of the crucifixion that day. That's not what this is about. And that's not what it's about for you and I. True salvation is a spiritual deliverance. You call upon the name of the Lord. You trust in him spiritually. You use your faith to believe that you're the sinner and he's the savior. Here's what they say, if thou be Christ, save thyself and us. And both of them agreed to it. The man on the right, the thief on the right was like, that's right, save yourself and us. And you see, verse 40, Luke 23, 40. The other answered, rebuked him. Something happened. At one point, he agreed with everything, and now he turns over. And I want you to understand, we lose grip of this sometimes. These men are dying, and every breath that they take to inhale air, to fight, project words to speak. These are the last words they will ever have in their life. And they've used them to mock Christ before. And now he turns and he says, and he rebukes the other thief on the other side. He uses those last breaths and he says, dost thou not fear God? Something's going on here, Brother Brent. He now is fearing God and he even says this, seeing thou are in the same condemnation. We're all dying up here. We're getting ready to take our last breaths. This thief on the right side says we indeed justly, we're here because we deserve it justly. Something's happened to him. I'll preach to myself here just for a minute. You know, Preacher Brian, it's hard to get people to listen. You are right, Pastor. It's very hard. They don't pay attention. They're so distracted. Amen. Preach, Preacher Brian. You also know it's hard sometimes to get them to understand and realize that they are truly deserving to go to hell according to the Scriptures. I don't like to hear that, but when I finally accepted that, that that was the truth and found out, but it wasn't the end all and then I'm going to die on that cross and there's no hope, but that there was hope, if I would reach for it beyond that and call upon the name of the Lord, that there would be hope beyond that. It's hard to get people lost anymore. Some people are so religiously focused on things or they go through the motions of religion. And this thief, something awakened him and he had a fear of God about him. And part of that fear was the fact that this man in the middle was not a thief like them. He was not a liar. He was not an insurrectionist. He hadn't committed any crimes. He said, we're here indeed justly. For we receive our due reward. We're getting what we deserve. That's what he's saying. He said, but this man hath done nothing amiss. That word amiss means he didn't miss the mark. He didn't sin. He's done nothing wrong. That's amazing. Just a few, I guess maybe an hour or so on the cross, he now is turning and seeing things much differently. I'm so glad God has mercy and grace. Even in the time of death, that you could turn and see him in a new light and a new way. I don't know if you could see it, but I don't know how you could ignore it. Can you not see Romans 8, Romans 5, 8? Listen to this. We're still throwing some verses of the Romans Road. But God commended. commendeth his love toward us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Can you not see how he commended his love towards you? When that happens, that's that moment you can be saved. And you don't care about what your neighbor thinks about it, your boyfriend, your girlfriend, your husband, your wife. You don't think about what your boss thinks. You don't think about how it's gonna affect your life. All you can say is this is the only thing I have that is worth living for. and you trust that Christ is your Savior, and something's happening on this cross, and he looks at Jesus and says, this man's dying for me. This man's my only hope. And he rebuked that other man. He said, do you not fear God? John 3.16 comes to mind here. As far as God commending his love towards us, What does that mean? Well, he demonstrated it. He manifested it. He showed it. He put it out there where it cannot be ignored. You know, the atheism and anti-religious things around the world spend lots of money, energy and effort to try to ignore the fact that God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son. He manifested himself, God did, in the flesh. Jesus is giving himself as a ransom for sin as the Lamb of God. And the Bible says that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life. And church, this thief on the right hand who started this day with a death sentence, a destiny of hell, really not much difference between the other thief. Now the differences are starting to take a hold and he looks over at Jesus and he becomes the very first whosoever that would ever believe right there from the cross on Calvary's Hill. Now this is not an accident. This didn't just happen and go, hey, don't stop the cameras. This is good. We'll film this. This will be good to put in there to print. This is good for the proselyting. Oh, this was the plan of God from the foundation of the world. When Jesus walked this earth, He knew as His steps drew closer and closer to Calvary. He knew when He got up on this morning that those thieves both would reject Him, but at one point, one would receive Him by the grace of God. I've said before it had to be some days even when Jesus was facing the worst of the worst and this would be the worst suffering he would ever face. There had to be a little spark of excitement to know in the midst of all that God would still get glory. And this thief on the right hand side of the cross could receive deliverance. I want to remind you in these verses, this one thief on the left side, he wanted deliverance, didn't he? He uses the words. Save thyself, talking to Jesus, and us. Save. Salvation. Deliverance. He was using the right words, wasn't he? That's what he wanted. But what he thought was the only way he could be saved is if Jesus saved himself. But truly the only way you and I can be saved is if Jesus offers himself. and he didn't get that. There was almost a point where he was willing to believe in some supernatural something here about Jesus that if you're anything like what they're saying, then get off this cross and save us all. I mean, he's just saying, we'll just use me and Donnie here, we'll both be thieves for a minute. I'm in on that plan. Amen. Jesus gets all, hey, take us with you. We're kind of brothers now. We've all been crucified. We're in the same group. I'll go wherever you're going, at least for a little while. That man wanted saved from his situation. And many people, that's all they really want. They don't want to be saved from their sins. They want to be saved from their situation, their circumstance. They'll come to church in the time of trouble in their life as some kind of band-aid or spare tire. They come and go through the religious mojo of things. And sadly, in some churches that they may go to, they may never hear the gospel. And that's sad. but they come religiously, and they come, and they might even come down the first time they ever hear any scripture at all, and they come, and they, what are you here for? Oh, I need the Lord to help me and to change my life, my life's a mess, I'm getting ready to go to jail, I'm getting ready to lose my family, I've lost my job, and they're just looking for some kind of way to be delivered from circumstances and situation that they're in. But they don't wanna admit that they're a sinner, and that's the most important situation they have. And that they need to be saved and they want forgiveness. It's hard to get people to admit that they've done any wrong. That they've transgressed God. And I'll tell you this, you don't have to name every sin. I'm glad I didn't have to name them all. I'd still be naming them. but I admitted I was a sinner in status before God. I admitted I'm a sinner and I asked him to save me. The Bible says this, Romans 10, 9, that if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord, notice that, that word's real interesting there, the word Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thy heart that God hath raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. Romans 10, 13, For whosoever, and that's me by the way, shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. So that's going to be really interesting to notice. Will one of these men call upon Him as Lord? Will they look at Him not as a common thief and criminal like they are? Well, they look at him in a different light. After hearing him intercede and talking to his heavenly father, and watching the interaction with the crowds, and watching this man die, not for his sins, but for the sins of others, that thief on the right-hand side, something awakened him unto a thought of righteousness. And the Bible says in Romans 8, 1, there is therefore now no condemnation. which implies that there is condemnation somewhere along before the word now gets here. Church, understand, as I say the word church, congregation as well, we're all condemned, biblically. Even John 3.16, as comfy cozy as that verse is, if you'll keep reading, the Bible goes on to tell us that we are condemned because we have not believed in the name of the Son of God. Amen? Which means you have rejected Him. And so the Bible says, there is therefore now. There comes a time where you were condemned, but something happens to where now you're no longer condemned. And yet this man's still on the cross. He's still going to die on this cross, condemned in the eyes of the Roman soldiers, all the priests and the people around him. But what matters most, church, is that before God Almighty, he will no longer be condemned. You can put thief on my tombstone, I can die the life of a thief, but that moment he looked to Jesus as Savior to be delivered, the Bible says he got saved. Listen to this, Luke 23 39. One of the malefactors which were hanged railed on him saying, if thou be Christ, save thyself and others. But the other answering, rebuked him saying, dost thou not fear God, seeing thou art in the same condemnation? And we indeed justly, for we receive the due reward of our deeds. What kind of deeds? Not good deeds, bad deeds, thieves. But this man hath done nothing amiss. And he said unto Jesus, Lord, remember that word, whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. He's the first one who ever engaged the power of the Roman's road. He looked over at him, and he believed in him as Lord. He said unto Jesus, Lord? Man, what happened there? At one point, he was a false messiah. At one point, he was just another criminal dying with a bunch of thieves around him. And now this man has changed in his heart and his understanding. He looks at him as Lord. Do you know him as Lord and Savior? Amen. I hope you do. It's a critical moment in your life. As we preached, I think, a week or so ago about are you a believer, even the devils fear and tremble. They even know a lot of religious terminology. They know a lot of those words. They know about those things, but they're not believers. He says, Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom. Now, is this man delusional because he's dying? How is Jesus Christ gonna become a king? What kingdom could he possibly be talking about? The only, I mean, this is mind blowing, I know, but the only possibility is either he comes down off the cross or after he dies, he comes back. Yeah, that's a good story. We call it the resurrection. Now I don't think this man has all this theology lined up and he's just, but in his heart, he's believing upon any possibility of who this man, Lord Jesus is. And he looked at him and he said, you got a kingdom you're gonna have. And I wanna be involved in that. And he says, when thou comest in thy kingdom, I just have one request. Remember me. And then Jesus could have went through the whole process and the resurrection, and then he could have waited to the millennial reign and stop, and let's take a moment of silence to remember this thief on the right-hand side who placed that little sliver of faith. He said, remember me. I wanna take this time now. I know it's been 1,000 years later. Let's remember. Thank God he didn't do that. He said, today shalt thou be with me in paradise. I'm taking you with me, amen. You're going with me. You're gonna be a part of my kingdom. This man wakes up that morning as a thief on death row with nothing but possibility of dying and be cast into what we call that area around there, the lake of fire, the Gehenna. the images Christ referred to. They had a never ending burning, smoldering trash dump in that area. And everybody knew when he spoke of Lake of Fire, that's where it was. And when his body come down off the cross, if he had no family to to, you know, to receive him and no one who wanted him, they'd take his body off and throw it in that pile to die and rot and burn. That's a sad thought there. But even, glory to God, even if that's where his body went, his soul went to paradise with the Lord Jesus Christ. And there have been many, then they throw his old body in there, old sorry thief, and while he's in paradise with the King of kings and the Lord of lords, meeting Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all those Old Testament believers looking to the cross in this pivotal moment, now Jesus has died on the cross and he brings a thief with him into the kingdom of God. That'll mess your religiosity and your theology up on it. I just couldn't believe that pastor. The first person in the church, the kingdom of God was a thief. It's appalling to me. It brings joy to my soul. I was a thief at the age of three. I'm glad I can get in. Amen. The mercy of God, the forgiveness of God. Romans 5.1, here's some more Romans wrote for you. Therefore, being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Romans 10.13, for whosoever should call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. You may, the religious people of this world may even reject Christ and they may not even allow a thief to even come to the kingdom. Oh, you'd have to do this or clean up. You have to do better before you can get. Listen, no, you come as you are. He'll do the cleaning up of your life. He'll do the changing of your life. What thought that this thief, he had nothing to bring to offer. He couldn't even say, Lord, if you save me today, I'll live for you for the rest of my life. That'd have been almost mockery, wouldn't it? You mean like 13 seconds? I'm going to live? No, that's not what it was about. It wasn't a plea bargaining with God. It was an admission. I am a sinner and I see you today as the Savior. I ask you, church, do you see that? Do you see that? And I'll say this, the difference in us today versus this thief. There is there, Romans 8.1, there is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the spirit. When I read that, I was reading these Romans wrote, because it just came on my heart. I couldn't, I saw it all over this cross, all over this thief story. I got to thinking, you know what, this was the end for him. He's done. Now he's even still on death row, death sentence, but his destiny has changed and he's going to heaven. He's going to paradise with the Lord. But he'll never get to walk for Him. I got to thinking about that. It was sobering to me. This delivered thief never had a chance to walk for his Savior. to serve Him, to love Him, to speak of Him, to say, He saved my soul. He is my Redeemer. Church, you and I have that opportunity. We have the privilege to tell the story that I was dying like that thief. But one day I looked to Him and saw Him as my Savior and my Lord. I called upon His name and He saved my soul. And now I get to walk for Him. Sister Tonda, I want you to come. If you're not saved today, you have this same destiny. You have this same connection to these thieves. But you also have the same opportunity to turn to Jesus as your Savior and trust in Him. And if you are saved today, I want you to think in a new reviving spirit what a joy and privilege and honor it is that He saved your soul. He heard your cry and you get to go out into this world and walk for Him. I'm a walking witness and testimony that He saved my soul. He saved me and forgave me of all my sins in my condemned condition. He delivered me and justified me all in one moment on the same hill, amen, Calvary's hill. And He delivered me from that condemnation and I'm no longer in it or under it. And now I can walk after Him and walk after the Spirit. What a gift of life that is. Every head bowed, every eye closed. That thief's body was taken off that cross, his cross, and he probably was tossed in that pile to burn and to rot. But when God saved you, he gave you more days to live for him. What are you doing with those days? Are you glorifying him? Are you acting like you got off a death row? Are you acting like you've been pardoned and forgiven and set free and given a new life? Well, that's what us as believers need to be living like. I ask you this morning, does anybody here that preach and pray for me? I've never truly, sincerely, from the bottom of my heart, with my heart, confessed and believed in Jesus Christ as my Savior. I come to church, I do all the things that church has to offer, but I've never truly believed and trusted in Jesus as my Savior. You know, that other thief is just like you. And the story leaves it open for interpretation that he did not believe. He only rejected. He only wanted to be saved from his circumstance or situation. Would you today call upon the Lord for salvation and ask Him to save you and deliver you from your sins? And if you are saved today, if you are a believer, why don't you ask God to help you walk in that newness of life? To walk with a joy and a freedom and a purpose that God saved you and left you here to glorify Him. That thief never got a chance to go say anything else about Jesus. He never got to tell his family what happened. He never got to tell anybody. And yet you and I get an opportunity every day that we just ignore. God help us to see the need. Help us to see the joy of no longer being condemned. Anybody here who's a preacher, pray for me. I know I'm not saved. Nobody looking around. Raise your hands. A preacher, I'm not saved. Never been saved. I'm not sure I'm saved. Never trusted in Jesus as my savior. There are no hands up. And I hope that means you truly all are saved. But even if you're not, if you're just afraid to raise it, you don't want no one to know. Just like that thief on the cross, no one ever knew, but God allowed us to know according to His Word. But on that day, Even those soldiers would have mocked hearing him cry out, Lord, remember me. They would have made fun of it. But the only one that mattered was he prayed directly to Jesus. He called and believed upon Him. And that's the only one that matters. And I encourage you, make sure before you leave this world, before you die, make sure before you leave this service, don't waste away your aid, your day of grace. Make sure you have it settled. You never know when you may leave this world. Make sure you know him as your personal savior. Father, we have tried to share the word and Lord, the weather, the seeds planted here for some future moment, someone might be saved or if it's for radio or Lord, it goes out on the internet live stream. I pray you'll use the scriptures today, Lord, if there's someone not saved, that they would truly turn in trust as you as Lord and call upon you as Lord to save them. And Lord, if we get any extra days and time and anything we get is more than what that thief got, that we would walk for you and be a light for you and let our light shine for you and lift up your name, Lord, and glorify you in our living as a redeemed, saved, pardoned, delivered person who was taken off a death row and now on heaven's road. Thank you for our blessed hope. Help us, Lord, to be the light of the world. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.