Salvation of a Thief
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Today we celebrate Easter. It is the day we usually talk about the tomb and the fact that Jesus was not in it when they came to check on him. Sometimes we talk about the crucifixion, about how painful it was or about how Jesus did it to take a way our sins. All of that is true and good and worthy to talk about but this year something else caught my attention. As I was going over the Easter story in preparation for today I saw something I had never really thought much about before. I saw one of the first salvation stories, in fact it is the first salvation story in the bible. The first time that someone came to Jesus because of the cross, and it couldn’t have happened any quicker.
But they were insistent, with loud voices asking that He be crucified. And their voices began to prevail.
And Pilate pronounced sentence that their demand be granted.
And he released the man they were asking for who had been thrown into prison for insurrection and murder, but he delivered Jesus to their will.
When they led Him away, they seized a man, Simon of Cyrene, coming in from the country, and placed on him the cross to carry behind Jesus.
And following Him was a large crowd of the people, and of women who were mourning and lamenting Him.
But Jesus turning to them said, “Daughters of Jerusalem, stop weeping for Me, but weep for yourselves and for your children.
“For behold, the days are coming when they will say, ‘Blessed are the barren, and the wombs that never bore, and the breasts that never nursed.’
“Then they will begin to say to the mountains, ‘Fall on us,’ and to the hills, ‘Cover us.’
“For if they do these things when the tree is green, what will happen when it is dry?”
Two others also, who were criminals, were being led away to be put to death with Him.
When they came to the place called The Skull, there they crucified Him and the criminals, one on the right and the other on the left.
But Jesus was saying, “Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing.” And they cast lots, dividing up His garments among themselves.
And the people stood by, looking on. And even the rulers were sneering at Him, saying, “He saved others; let Him save Himself if this is the Christ of God, His Chosen One.”
The soldiers also mocked Him, coming up to Him, offering Him sour wine,
and saying, “If You are the King of the Jews, save Yourself!”
Now there was also an inscription above Him, “THIS IS THE KING OF THE JEWS.”
One of the criminals who were hanged there was hurling abuse at Him, saying, “Are You not the Christ? Save Yourself and us!”
But the other answered, and rebuking him said, “Do you not even fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation?
“And we indeed are suffering justly, for we are receiving what we deserve for our deeds; but this man has done nothing wrong.”
And he was saying, “Jesus, remember me when You come in Your kingdom!”
And He said to him, “Truly I say to you, today you shall be with Me in Paradise.”
I guess I never really saw it before but this has all the elements of a new testament salvation. I remember thinking about and talking about that fact that Jesus said today you shall be with me in paradise, about what that means about death and about what happens to Christians after they die. I even remember thinking about how Jesus was going to be with the thief in paradise that day and also be in the tomb for three days but that is not what caught my attention this time.
I don’t know if I am just that slow of if God brought it to my attention for the purpose of this sermon or what, but for the first time I noticed that what the thief said and what he believed is a great example of a salvation story. He didn’t use the words we normally use and it didn’t happen at a church altar in the setting we are used to but all the elements are there.
Let me explain. We often use something called the Roman road to explain salvation to someone and most of us are familiar with it in one form or another so I want to use it to go through the salvation of the thief on the cross. In its simplest form the Roman road consists of 3 verses out of Romans. The first is
for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
This verse is used to show that everyone has sinned and everyone needs a saviour. No one is perfect and no one gets into heaven by their own merit because we have all fallen short and we have all sinned. The first step in coming to salvation is realizing that you are a sinner and need to be saved. So lets look at the thief on the cross, did he know he was a sinner?
One of the criminals who were hanged there was hurling abuse at Him, saying, “Are You not the Christ? Save Yourself and us!”
But the other answered, and rebuking him said, “Do you not even fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation?
“And we indeed are suffering justly, for we are receiving what we deserve for our deeds; but this man has done nothing wrong.”
The first criminal was mocking Jesus and hurling abuse at him. The second criminal interrupted him saying that we, both of the criminals, were suffering justly because they deserved what happened to them because of what they had done but Jesus was innocent. He knew that he was a sinner and he knew that he deserved to be punished for what he had done, he had accepted his guilt and that he deserved to be punished. Which takes us to the second verse in the roman road.
For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Those who sin deserve to die, the thief had sinned and so he accepted that he deserved to die but he had not given up all hope, there was still a light at the end of the tunnel. Even though he accepted that he was guilty and that he deserved his punishment he still had hope that there was something left. His hope was not in his own abilities or in his own worthiness but in the man who had crucified with him, Jesus the Christ. One who could save him, one who was paying the price of salvation right in front of him, one who loved him and had compassion on him even though he did not deserve it, Jesus Christ.
So what did he do about it. He asked a simple favor from Jesus.
And he was saying, “Jesus, remember me when You come in Your kingdom!”
Now at first glance this statement doesn’t sound much like a prayer for salvation but when you dig a little deeper its all there. Jesus certainly recognized it as sufficient because he said
And He said to him, “Truly I say to you, today you shall be with Me in Paradise.”
So what is it that we need to do to be saved. The last verse in the Roman road to salvation is this.
that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved;
The thief on the cross certainly confessed with his mouth but what did he confess. He did not say these exact words in the right order but what did he say. He asked Jesus to remember him when he came into his kingdom. Now we know that in order to be saved you need to confess Jesus as lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead. Of course if the criminal on the cross did not believe that Jesus would be resurrected then there was no point in asking him anything, he was about to die. Before the resurrection even happened this man believed. Before God had raised Jesus this man showed faith that it would happen. What about confessing Jesus as Lord. Well the man said when you come into your kingdom so he thought of Jesus as a king, as a ruler, he believed that Jesus was a king and that he would soon come into his kingdom and have the ability to grant favors to others. It was on this belief, this faith, that the man on the cross asked a favor of Jesus, and it was not a great favor at that. He did not ask to be given riches or glory in the kingdom, he did not even ask to be saved or protected, he left all that to the discretion of the king, he humbly asked that this king, this Jesus, this man being unjustly crucified with him would remember him when he came into his kingdom. He left everything up to Jesus, he put it all in the hands of Jesus, he trusted him fully and completely.
This man knew that he had no merit of his own, he deserved death and he was dying, he deserved punishment and he was being punished. He trusted that Jesus was innocent and that Jesus would conquer death and be raised from the dead, he believed that Jesus is king and that he would soon sit on this throne, he trusted that Jesus had the power to grant favors to those he wanted to give gifts to and he threw himself on the mercy and grace of Jesus. He trusted Jesus and left it all up to him, he turned over everything he had, although he had almost nothing left he gave it all to Jesus. Isn’t that what salvation is, aren’t we all in that same position. As we think about Easter, about the resurrection and about the cross we can remember a man who gave it all to Jesus. A man who had nothing, a man who had gotten exactly what he deserved and accepted his fate, a man who trusted Jesus with everything he had left, a man who literally left it all at the cross. This Easter shouldn’t we be like this man, shouldn’t we accept that we deserve death, that we need salvation, shouldn’t we throw it all at the feet of Jesus, proclaim him lord and king and trust him with all that we have, shouldn’t we do exactly what the thief on the cross did, are we not just like him?
In celebration of Jesus, in order to remember what he has done for us and who we are because of him this Sunday we will celebrate communion.
For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus in the night in which He was betrayed took bread;
and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, “This is My body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of Me.”
In the same way He took the cup also after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in My blood; do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me.”
For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until He comes.