Mark 15:27-32 "The Thief on the Cross"

Good morning Calvary Chapel Lake City!

Last Sunday, we had our 3rd annual Baptism and enjoyed food and fellowship poolside.

Congratulations to those of you who stepped out in obedience to get baptized… it was a blessed day!

If you did not get baptized and are still interested, let me know… we live in a town of lakes… and swimming pools… and bath tubs… we can figure out a place to get you baptized. Just let me know.

Next week is Ethan’s last Sunday before heading to Bible College in Peru, South America.

Ethan’s up in the sound booth today, but be sure to wish him well after service.

And, next week we will pray over him and send him off… we may even have cake!

Well, let’s now… immerse ourselves in the word. Please open your Bibles to Mark 15. Mark 15:27-32.

As we continue our chapter and verse journey through the Gospel of Mark…

We near the end of this Gospel… looking at Jesus’ final week of ministry…

Last week we read the words, “… and they crucified Him.”

We all understand, in general, that crucifixion is hanging on a cross until death…

But, last week we looked deeper into the physical brutality of crucifixion… and it’s history… to better understand what our Lord endured for us.

If you’ve never heard a message or researched how brutal crucifixion is… perhaps go back and listen to that message from last week… via our app or website.

When you understand crucifixion in depth… certain verses are that much more impactful…

Like Jesus’ exhortations to believers…

“If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me.” (Luke 9:23)

Or, “… he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me.” (Matt 10:38)

Also, Jesus’ personal response to the cross… as the writer of Hebrews wrote…

“… who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame…” (Heb 12:2)

It’s mind-boggling to comprehend a feeling of joy in enduring the cross… but in love for you and I… to redeem us back to God… to make a way for us eternally… it was a joy for Jesus.

Since understanding the medical side of crucifixion was a lot to take in… we paused at V26 of Mark 15 last week… where Pilate wrote a sign of Jesus’ accusation… “The King of the Jews”…

And, there are many other events surrounding the crucifixion… the two thieves being crucified… the statements of Jesus… the supernatural darkness… the proclamations from the soldiers…

This and next week, we are going to look at these other details…

Today, honing in on… “The Thief on the Cross”… which is the title of our message.

Let’s pray and then get into the word!

In reverence for God’s word, please stand as I read our passage today.

Mark 15:27-32 “With Him they also crucified two robbers, one on His right and the other on His left. 28 So the Scripture was fulfilled which says, “And He was numbered with the transgressors.”

29 And those who passed by blasphemed Him, wagging their heads and saying, “Aha! You who destroy the temple and build it in three days, 30 save Yourself, and come down from the cross!”

31 Likewise the chief priests also, mocking among themselves with the scribes, said, “He saved others; Himself He cannot save. 32 Let the Christ, the King of Israel, descend now from the cross, that we may see and believe.” Even those who were crucified with Him reviled Him.”

Praise God for His word. Please be seated.

Immediately following Jesus’ crucifixion and the hanging of the sign, “The King of the Jews”…

Our gospel writer, Mark, now draws attention to the two other men being crucified along with Jesus.

Luke simply titles them “criminals”… “a wrong doer” by def.

Interesting… for sharing the Gospel… Paul used the same word of himself in 2 Tim 2:9… “I suffer trouble as an evildoer [same word in Gk], even to the point of chains.”

A reminder to pray for our government, that we can freely share the gospel in the future… otherwise you would be a criminal for being bold about your faith.

Matthew and Mark call them “two robbers”… or “thieves”… as one is famously known as the “thief on the cross.“

Earlier we saw Pilate present the man “Barabbas” who was released instead of Jesus…

He too was a “robber”…

We don’t know, but were these men now being crucified part of his crew?

Possibly so as Mark 15:7 states, “And there was one named Barabbas, who was chained with his fellow rebels; they had committed murder in the rebellion.”

Were the two thieves “fellow rebels” of Barabbas… the timeline matches up… and if so… not only were they robbers, but potentially murderers as well.

But, Barabbas was set free… used as a political pawn.

These men are being crucified alongside Jesus.

And for one of these thieves… strange to say, but the cross was the best thing that ever happened to him.

For it was during the trial of the cross that he met his Savior.

Barabbas may have been set free, but what is that worth but a few more years of this vapor of a life?

The thieves on the cross were crucified and died this day, but for one of them death was NOT his end… one day we will see him in Paradise.

Many people… if given the choice would choose the path of Barabbas all day long… escaping the cross and disappearing into obscurity… but, with no certainty of salvation.

They would sacrifice eternity to avoid short term pain.

The wise would choose the path of the thief who got saved… True… certain death on the cross… and pain unimaginable was his physical end, but that was not his end.

Because of faith in Jesus… salvation and eternity were guaranteed.

Don’t lose sight of the prize. The short-sighted person cannot see beyond this lifetime.

But the wise live their lives… in fear… in reverence of the Lord… and with an eternal mindset.

One thief was crucified on His right and the other on His left…

Pastor Chuck would say “forming two crosses with blood in between”… making a nod to Jesus in between the other two crosses… and pointing to Passover and the type fulfilled.

In Exodus, as the Tenth plague on Egypt was announced… the death of the first born in all the land…

God, in Exodus 12, instituted Passover… where God would NOT strike the first born of any house who sacrificed a lamb… and followed God’s instructions…

Exo 12:22-23 states, And you shall take a bunch of hyssop, dip it in the blood that is in the basin, and strike the lintel and the two doorposts with the blood that is in the basin. And none of you shall go out of the door of his house until morning. 23 For the LORD will pass through to strike the Egyptians; and when He sees the blood on the lintel and on the two doorposts, the LORD will pass over the door and not allow the destroyer to come into your houses to strike you.”

And, so with Passover… they hyssop was applied to the vertical and horizontal beams of the doorframe…

“forming two crosses with blood in between”…

Another thought… as seen in the slide… blood to the left and right on the doorframes and top of the doorframe… and bottom in the basin…

Up, down, left, right… forming a cross.

And, if you want some more concrete than a type… Mark let’s us know in V28… that God is sovereignly moving here…

Jesus being crucified with criminals fulfills a prophecy written some 700 years prior.

Isa 53:12 “Therefore I will divide Him a portion with the great, And He shall divide the spoil with the strong, [Like a General would have a portion of the spoils after a victorious battle] Because He poured out His soul unto death, And He was numbered with the transgressors, [two thieves] And He bore the sin of many, And made intercession for the transgressors.”

Isaiah 53 is one of several passages that are clearly Messianic in nature… foretelling the events of Messiah and His death for our sin…

Listen to these familiar excerpts from Isa 53

“He is despised and rejected by men...”

“He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; The chastisement for our peace was upon Him, And by His stripes we are healed.”

“… the LORD has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.”

“He was oppressed and He was afflicted, Yet He opened not His mouth...”

“He was cut off from the land of the living...”

“… they made His grave with the wicked— But with the rich at His death…”

As He was crucified with thieves, but buried in a rich man’s tomb- Joseph of Arimathea.

“He was numbered with the transgressors, And He bore the sin of many...”

It never fails to move me how clear … how accurate scripture is about future events…

Again, Isaiah wrote about Messiah 700 years before He was born and the details are SO precise.

The Bible is true… prophecy is part of the proof… and gives us confidence about all the future promises God has laid out about Jesus coming again… and our personal future with Him in heaven.

After Jesus and the thieves are crucified… Mark 15:29-32 records “And those who passed by blasphemed Him, wagging their heads and saying, “Aha! You who destroy the temple and build it in three days, 30 save Yourself, and come down from the cross!” 31 Likewise the chief priests also, mocking among themselves with the scribes, said, “He saved others; Himself He cannot save. 32 Let the Christ, the King of Israel, descend now from the cross, that we may see and believe.”

To which many scholars would retort… IF He saved Himself… He could NOT have saved other. Because He did NOT save Himself, we are saved through faith.

The religious leaders said if Jesus descended from the cross… they would see and believe.

I don’t believe that… Paul wrote, “we walk by faith, not by sight.”

We have not seen Jesus with our physical sight, but through faith we believe that to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord.

The Jewish leaders gazed upon the Lord… and they did not believe… His teachings… His raising of the dead and healing of the lame and blind and lepers… His casting out of demons… His fulfillment of prophecy…

If they didn’t believe all of this, neither would they believe now if Jesus descended from the cross.

And, I know this because earlier in His ministry, in His second year of ministry, Pharisees and Scribes asked Jesus for a sign and Jesus replied in Matt 12:39 “An evil and adulterous generation seeks after a sign, and no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. 40 For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.”

In His third year of ministry… again Pharisees and this time Sadducees also asked for a sign… and He replied again referencing Jonah.

They would see a sign… but it would not be coming down off the cross. It would be the resurrection.

As Jesus said in His first year of ministry, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.”

And, while the people and the religious leaders were blind to the reality of who Jesus was… a breakthrough began to happen in the heart of one of the thieves on the cross.

Initially, both thieves joined in mocking Jesus.

We see that at the end of V32 in Mark 15… “Even those [plural] who were crucified with Him reviled Him.

Matt 27:44 details it this way, “Even the robbers [plural] who were crucified with Him reviled Him with the same thing.”

There was a point when both criminals on Jesus’ left and His right were denouncing or insulting Him… echoing the mocking statements from all those around Him…

The people were mocking Him… the religious leaders were mocking Him… Luke states the Roman soldiers were mocking Him… and even these two thieves… condemned to die alongside Him… join in the mocking.

If you’ve ever felt alone and like the whole world is against you, know that our King can sympathize.

And, it’s in this moment of mocking from all sides… that Jesus makes His first of seven statements from the cross…

Luke 23:34 records Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do.”

And it would seem that this was a turning point for one of the thieves on the cross.

Something about Jesus praying for those who were mocking Him… which is a layer of emotional torture on top of the already physical torture…

And, He prayed for those responsible for His crucifixion as well…

This was not absolution for their sins, but a cry of mercy because of their ignorance.

G. Campbell Morgan wrote, “In the soul of Jesus there was no resentment; no anger, no lurking desire for punishment upon the men who were maltreating Him. Men have spoken in admiration of the mailed fist. [which is a term dating back to 1897 meaning a threat of armed or overbearing force or power… from the German “Panzer” and “Faust”] When I hear Jesus thus pray, I know that the only place for the mailed fist is in hell.”

Jesus truly had the power to call down Twelve Legions of Angels… or to simple say, “I Am” and knock the crowd to the ground… in a number of ways He could have come down off the cross and decimated the crowd…

But instead He prayed to the Father to forgive them…

And, it would seem that this act of mercy… or perhaps Jesus’ personal relationship with God whom He called “Father”… something softened the heart of one of the thieves…

… for the next time Jesus is mocked by the other thief…

Luke 23:39-43 records this… “Then one of the criminals [not both anymore] who were hanged blasphemed Him, saying, “If You are the Christ, save Yourself and us.” 40 But the other, answering, rebuked him, saying, “Do you not even fear God, seeing you are under the same condemnation? 41 And we indeed justly, for we receive the due reward of our deeds; but this Man has done nothing wrong.” 42 Then he said to Jesus, “Lord, remember me when You come into Your kingdom.” 43 And Jesus said to him, “Assuredly, I say to you, today you will be with Me in Paradise.”

One thief blasphemes Jesus… the other declares Jesus is innocent… rebukes the other thief for this is a time to fear or revere God…

He acknowledges they committed wrongdoing and were paying the price for their actions… and now was a time to humble themselves before God.

It’s all sinking in that his life is over and soon he will meet his maker… there is no more time or place for blasphemy…

There are no more second chances for him to prove himself a ‘good person’ through moral reforms…

He is hanging on a cross and death is knocking at the door.

So he does the one thing that all men MUST do to be saved… he cries out to Jesus as “Lord” or ‘Master’…

This is a faith profession… he recognizes his doom and knows he needs a savior…

He says to Jesus, “Lord, remember me when You come into Your kingdom.”

“Your kingdom...” Who has a kingdom, but a King?

His profession is not only Lord, but also King.

And, in doing so he does what rich men in the parables failed to do… and upon their deaths they found themselves in hell.

There was the rich fool who hoarded his wealth… there was the rich man who showed no pity on Lazarus…

There eyes never departed themselves…

But, this thief… in his final hours… he looks upon the Lord and he believes…

Though he was a thief… possibly a murderer… and whatever other immoralities and vices held him in chains… maybe the bottle… probably lust… because these all go hand in hand with this kind of lifestyle…

I say this… not casting a stone… but through experience. I was an immoral thief… in my teens and as a young man… in the throes of addiction… I stole from friends and family… and there was even greater peripheral immoralities present in my life.

When I was arrested in 1996, it wasn’t for all these things… it was for possession of drugs…

For this crucified man, robbery was simply his charge legally…

The sins of his life were most likely far more extensive.

Interesting… how as he hung from a cross… and as I sat in a cell for 19 hours… and then went to rehab…

For both the thief and for myself… there were turning points in our lives as we turned from the old… and turned to Jesus.

Just as God used the cross for the thief… He can use all manners of difficult experiences in our lives to wake us up… to make the blind see…

Getting arrested was one of the lowest points in my life. I couldn’t even look at my Father when he came and bailed me out. I was so ashamed.

But, it was one of the best things that ever happened to me. It was a turning point in my life.

I vividly remember the day in late 1996, when my Dad called me to let me know that all my charges got dropped. I was guilty, but my lawyer found some loophole… some flaw in the procedures of my arrest… and I never even went to court.

And, I thought in that moment… “I can start using again.” That was the lie.

I had been clean for a few months at that point… and was doing well.

So, a second thought popped in my mind. “What if I don’t and see where life goes?”

You see… I got a taste of life without drugs… I was acing all my college courses… I had a vision for my future… good things were happening…

It was in that season that I first truly prayed… and it was in that season that I came to accept Jesus as my Lord and my King.

Trials in life, while tremendously difficult… can be used as moments where we turn from something bad… and turn to the only One Good in life… Jesus Christ.

And, that’s all it takes to be saved. The thief on the cross and whatever other immoralities were present in his life… as he makes a faith profession in Jesus… he is saved.

And, his faith profession is all he does.

He does no good work… never gets baptized… has no time to make amends…

He simply confesses Jesus as Lord and King…

And, Jesus will take on his sin… and impute to the thief righteousness.

Before God… as the thief’s record is reviewed… by the blood of Jesus it says, “righteous.”

It says, “paid in full.”

Jesus confirms this is true… and confirms that He (Jesus) is what the thief proclaimed (both Lord and King)…

And, we see this proof because Jesus grants to the thief salvation…He says, “Assuredly, I say to you, today you will be with Me in Paradise.”

Who can grant such a thing but the Lord and King?

Assuredly- Gk amēn meaning “truly” or “trustworthy”… how we close our prayers.

Jesus proclaims a trustworthy statement that as this thief has turned to Him…

… Paradise is his new reality after death.

The Gk. word for paradise is used 3x in scripture… here in Mark 15…

Also, Paradise is the place Paul was “caught up into” and “heard inexpressible words.” (2 Cor 12:4)

Rev 2:7 promises, “To him who overcomes I will give to eat from the tree of life, which is in the midst of the Paradise of God.” ’

The thief says “when you come into Your kingdom...” as if it may be a far off or future time…

But Jesus says “today you will be with Me in Paradise.”

Not far off, but today.

In 2 Cor 5:8 Paul wrote, “We are confident, yes, well pleased rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord.”

Paul was always ready and longing to leave this life because he was confident that upon exiting this life… he would be in the presence of God.

And, in some regard we can look at the thief on the cross and realize that it’s never too late to turn to God…

This is a great proof verse for death bed conversions…

And a great proof verse for salvation by faith alone, and not by works…

But, I also have to wonder… how many people… like this thief… while grateful for believing in the Lord prior to eternity…

I wonder if there is a moment of regret looking back upon all the wasted time in their life… and wishing they had used all the previous years of their life… to know and to commune with the Lord…

Wishing they had taken as many moments to seek pleasure and personal security… and power and prestige…

Wishing they had invested in abiding in Christ.

Abridged… Jesus said, “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth… lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven… For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”

Each of us has a set amount of days in our lives… use them wisely.

It’s cliche, but we say, “You’re not guaranteed tomorrow.”

If you listened to President Trump during the RNC… a few days ago… he acknowledged that it’s only by the grace of God that he is still alive post assassination attempt…

Trump had a brush with death… death was literally a 1/4” away…

And, I hope that the grace that God bestowed is truly a turning point… for our country… and for President Trump personally…

I pray this very bad thing is what turns his and the hearts of many towards God.

I pray God has at least 4 good years ahead for this nation and world which will spark revival.

Wouldn’t that be amazing? I sure hope so.

And, while Trump was sparred… this past week… we also found out that an amazing and young family that we knew in California, were in a car accident… hit by a train… mom and daughter are with the Lord. Father and son are in ICU… Dad fighting for his life… and son, who was not cognitive and had a brain bleed… seems to be progressing in the right direction… but it’s a tragedy and will be a long road ahead.

Their lives will never be the same.

Life can take an unexpected turn at a moments notice…

Fortunately, as tragedy struck this family… they know the Lord… how much more tragic when a family or a person does not.

Use your time wisely… don’t wait to say yes to things of the Lord you may be putting off…

For sure… say ‘yes’ to faith in Jesus Christ first and foremost. That’s paramount.

But, what else? In obedience to His ordinances, say ‘yes’ to water baptism…

In embracing His promises… say ‘yes’ to baptism with the Holy Spirit… a promise to empower you to be a witness for Him.

Spiritual gifts… service work… so many opportunities to say ‘yes’ to kingdom work and involvement.

Don’t look back on your life knowing it’s been a series of delays and time invested in the world, but not in His kingdom.

In some ways, when we put off God for ourselves… one is like the thief on the cross… having robbed God of the time He should have received.

But, in some way, God can still use wasted time… and a wasted life for His glory…

Pastor Joe Focht shared an account from a Spurgeon sermon where Spurgeon painting a scene of the thief observing those being rewarded in heaven and he says, “Lord, I only squeaked into heaven at the last moment… surely there are no rewards for me?”

And, the Lord replies, “Not so… for how many on death row… and how many dying in hospitals have come to Me because of your example of coming to me at the last moment?”

It’s a beautiful point of how God can use broken people… broken vessels… which testifies of His grace… He is revealed and is glorified in the hearts of other broken vessels who may stand afar off… eyes cast down… beating their chests… muttering, ‘God, be merciful to me a sinner!”

2 Cor 4:7 reads, “But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us.”

You and I are earthen vessels… frail and subject to being broken…

And, yet inside us is a treasure… we have knowledge of salvation in Jesus Christ.

We have the Holy Spirit in-dwelling us and overflowing out of us…

And, the thief stands as a testimony to all of us that it’s never too late to turn to the Lord.

You may feel like a broken vessel… maybe not at your own fault, but because life has dealt you difficult circumstances…

But, sometimes… we look back on life with regret because of the bad choices we made… and we carry this.

Sure there may be life consequences that don’t just disappear…

But, eternally… when we come to Jesus we are washed clean by His blood.

The thief on the cross testifies of this reality.

We can only speculate in part about the immoralities of his life, but it was bad enough to land him in prison…

And, it was bad enough for Pilate to declare him worthy of death by crucifixion…

Of these facts we don’t need to speculate.

And, I wouldn’t be surprised if the burden of these realities is why both and then just the one thief lashed out against Jesus…

Because people today do the same… so burdened by the errors of their ways… and buying into the lie that they can never be redeemed…

They lash out against Jesus because it seems too good to be true that He can save.

How many times have they been let down in life and hurt in the past… and the callous on their heart is thick…

To survive in this world… they built a wall to protect themselves from further hurt…

And the enemy loves to spout the lie that there is a line that men cross and they can never come back from it.

And, yet… the thief on the cross hangs as a testimony that ALL MEN can be redeemed.

Jesus died… even for thieves… and the most immoral of men…

He looks to Jesus… and says, “Lord, remember me when You come into Your kingdom.”

And, Jesus replies, “Assuredly, I say to you, today you will be with Me in Paradise.”

Jesus doesn’t say, “Leave me be… for I am dying… I’m bleeding… my hands and feet are pierced… I have nothing left to give.”

As difficult as it was to breath… and to speak… in response to the man proclaiming Him as Lord… He replies with the promise of Paradise.

And, what a gift this exchange was.

Not only for the thief to die with the assurance that he will live.

But, also for Jesus… amidst all those who mocked Him… for a stretch of three hours…

And then to be addressed as “Lord.”

To hear “Lord” coming from one so low… one in such a desperate situation… one who was so hopeless…

A prodigal who returned…

One who was lost and now is found…

A key purpose for why Jesus came… “…the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost.” (Lk 19:10)

Jesus hung on the cross surrounded by religious men who felt self-righteous… they thought they could save themselves because of their observance of the law…

But, they were hypocrites… even their lack of mercy… and demonstration of cruelty by mocking Jesus… dying on the cross… their own actions testified against them.

But this thief… broken called Him “Lord.”

In the Parable of the Lost Sheep… Jesus said in Luke 15:6-7 “‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which was lost!’ 7 I say to you that likewise there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine just persons who need no repentance.”

What an eruption in heaven must have occurred in that moment the thief came to faith.

And, that very day… he would be with Jesus in heaven.

“Today you will be with Me in paradise.”

That Spurgeon sermon that I mentioned earlier… I’m sure it’s out there, and I looked for it… and in doing so… I found another written in 1889 titled, “The Believing Thief.”

Spurgeon in that message spoke about how the Lord stoops down and chooses the lowly… even new converts of the lowest sort.

Spurgeon said, “The comrade of the Lord of glory, for whom the cherub turns aside his sword of fire, is no great one, but a newly-converted malefactor.”

And, in this the Lord lays out a model of His intention to bring many like him into heaven.

Spurgeon preached, “He seemed to say to all the heavenly powers, “I bring a sinner with me; he is a sample of the rest.”

Have you never heard of him who dreamed that he stood without the gate of heaven, and while there he heard sweet music from a band of venerable persons who were on their way to glory? They entered the celestial portals, and there were great rejoicing and shouts.

Enquiring “What are these?” he was told that they were the goodly fellowship of the prophets. He sighed, and said, “Alas! I am not one of those.”

He waited a while, and another band of shining ones drew nigh, who also entered heaven with hallelujahs, and when he enquired, “Who are these, and whence came they?” the answer was, “These are the glorious company of the apostles.” Again he sighed, and said, “I cannot enter with them.”

Then came another body of men white-robed, and bearing palms in their hands, who marched amid great acclamation into the golden city. These he learned were the noble army of martyrs; and again he wept, and said, “I cannot enter with these.”

In the end he heard the voices of much people, and saw a greater multitude advancing, among whom he perceived Rahab and Mary Magdalene, David and Peter, Manasseh and Saul of Tarsus, and he espied especially the thief, who died at the right hand of Jesus.

These all entered in— a strange company. Then he eagerly enquired, “Who are these?” and they answered, “This is the host of sinners saved by grace.”

Then was he exceeding glad, and said, “I can go with these.”

Yet, he thought there would be no shouting at the approach of this company, and that they would enter heaven without song; instead of which, there seemed to rise a seven-fold hallelujah of praise unto the Lord of love; for there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over sinners that repent.”

My friends… if you are here today and you are carrying a burden… come to Jesus…

He said, “My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”

The nature of our God is love… and He welcomes us all into heaven IF we receive His Son… if we cry out to Him as our Lord and our King… placing our faith in Him as the One who saves us from our sin.

One thing I love about Calvary Chapel is it’s full of men and women who formerly were thieves… hanging on their own crosses of sorts… imprisoned and ashamed… and by crying out to Jesus they come into fellowship with Him… and Paradise… Heaven will be there’s… with Him… forevermore.

Some of you are familiar with the English poet and Anglican hymn writer, William Cowper (actually pronounced “Cooper”)…

In the 1700’s he was known for his writing… and respected.

But, in his personal life, he had great struggles… tormented by depression, emotional struggles… even to the point he attempted suicide…

After one of his first major bouts of depression, …

He wrote the Hymn, “There is a Fountain Filled with Blood”…

The hymn is a meditation upon Zech 13:1 “In that day a fountain shall be opened for the house of David and for the inhabitants of Jerusalem, for sin and for uncleanness.”

We’re going to close singing that song

Some didn’t like the hymn… finding it offensive because it suggests all are sinners and only through Christ’s blood are we washed clean.

You have to be pretty steeped in pride to not accept that fact.

In relation to our message today on the thief on the cross, there is one line that goes…

“The dying thief rejoiced to see That fountain in his day; And there may I, though vile as he, Wash all my sins away.”

In Romans 3, Paul wrote, “There is none righteous, no, not one.” quoting Psalms 14 & 53…

In some sense we’re all thieves on the cross… not all of us got caught, but all of us are guilty before God…

And, we all should have a heart of gratitude… for Jesus’ finished work on the cross that washed our sins away.

Amen? Let’s Pray!

As we sing this final hymn… Elder’s and prayer warriors… are coming up to pray with you if you need prayer.

I pray the Lord goes before you all this week and opens doors for you to proclaim His name.

There was only one Hope for the thief on the cross… Jesus Christ…

You hold the truth that there remains only One Hope today! Go and share the good news!