Untitled Sermon (2)

We’re in this series called Words from the Cross, essentially looking at Jesus’ dying words or the equivalent of His death bed statements. After all the trials; after the scourging; after the march to Calvary hill, Jesus made seven statements that reveal His character and point to the hope of the Gospel.

As we saw last week, the first thing Jesus said once He was on the cross was, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” And the Greek tense of the verb actually seems to imply that Jesus kept praying this for His enemies. And as we said, this is important because it provides us with the truth that if forgiveness is possible for those who put Christ on the cross and mocked Him and so on, then forgiveness is possible for everyone. Which means, no matter who you are, you can be forgiven. No matter what you’ve done, you can be forgiven. No matter where you come from, you can be forgiven. There’s so much hope to be found in this truth.

Yet, it’s possible that some of us may not buy into that whole idea. In fact, some of you may have left here last week thinking, “Well, that’s a nice sentiment, Jon. I like the idea of it. But how can you be so sure? How can I know that forgiveness is possible for me? After all, you don’t know what I’ve done. I’ve committed this sin and that sin. I’ve done one thing and then another. I’ve hurt so many people or completely made a mess out of the last however many years of my life. I am so unworthy. I can’t be good enough. I can’t do enough to make up for all I’ve done. I can’t earn Christ’s forgiveness or repay Christ for His forgiveness. So while forgiveness may be possible for some people, I’m not so sure it’s possible for me. I must be the exception to that rule. I’m afraid I’m just too far gone.”

If that’s you, I just want you to know two things. Number one, I know what it’s like to have those thoughts. I’ve been there. I spent a good amount of time in my life telling myself that I was the exception; that God wouldn’t forgive me; that I had done too much and I was too far gone. So, I know the pain and the struggle and the hopelessness that comes with it. But I also know this second thing, and I want you to know this. Those thoughts/statements simply aren’t true. And Jesus shows us as much.

In fact, He addresses those doubts and those questions we might have with His second statement from the cross. And in this statement, we don’t just see the idea that forgiveness is possible for anyone; we see the reality of that truth. To set the scene, we’ll start reading in Luke 23:35.

And the people stood by, watching, but the rulers scoffed at him, saying, “He saved others; let him save himself, if he is the Christ of God, his Chosen One!” The soldiers also mocked him, coming up and offering him sour wine, and saying, “If you are the King of the Jews, save yourself!” There was also an inscription over him, “This is the King of the Jews.” One of the criminals who were hanged railed at him, saying, “Are you not the Christ? Save yourself and us!”

Now, some have taken this statement and suggested that this criminal is basically saying, “Hey, if you are who they say you are, do something!” Like, if ever there was a moment for you to show up and show out, this is it. Save yourself, and while you’re at it, save us. Get us off this cross. And if you’ll do this for me, I’ll believe. Reality is, that’s a thought that many have had over the years. The thought that, “If God is who He says He is, then why doesn’t He do something for me. He should heal me. He should restore my marriage. He should intervene in my wayward son or daughter’s life.” And we may even go so far as to think or even say, “If God would just show Himself to me; prove Himself to me; display His glory to me, I’d believe in Him.”

Likely, because that’s been a common thought throughout all of history, many have believed that this criminal is essentially doing just that. He’s hoping that if he can poke and prod and provoke Jesus enough, Jesus might actually do what He claims He can do. And maybe that’s the case.

But as I look at this passage, it appears more to me that what this criminal is doing is simply following the crowds, which, by the way, will often land us on the opposing side of Jesus. As the crowds and religious leaders and soldiers begin to mock Jesus, this criminal joins in with them. And I believe that for two reasons. For one, the word for railed here is blasphemeō, from which we get our word blaspheme. Blasphemeō isn’t a cry for help; it’s a taunt; a degradation; a form of irreverent slander.

And second, his message was basically the same as the crowds, which was a complete mockery of Jesus. It’s this call for Jesus to save Himself. And in the eyes of all who were there that day, this was an impossibility. The cross was the ultimate death sentence. No one, and I mean no one, hung on a cross and lived to tell about it. Everyone who experienced crucifixion died. So, all those who made these statements would’ve believed that Jesus had no ability of saving Himself.

Of course, the irony is, Jesus could’ve saved Himself if He wanted to. After all, this is the One who gave sight to the blind; who gave hearing to the deaf; who gave the ability to speak to the mute. This is the One who made the lame to walk; who multiplied food to feed thousands; who walked on water and calmed the raging seas. And this is the One who not only brought Lazarus back from the dead, but who raised Himself from the dead.

And on top of all that, this is the One who told Peter in the garden to put away his sword, and then promptly asked in Matthew 26:53, Do you think that I cannot appeal to My Father, and He will at once send me more than twelve legions of angels?” Understand, a legion was six thousand troops. So, with one prayer, Jesus could’ve had seventy-two thousand angels at His disposal. Just one angel could’ve done the trick. Just one angel could’ve knocked all these crowds and soldiers and religious leaders to the ground, leaving them paralyzed in fear. Just one angel could’ve come down at Jesus command and saved Him.

So, the reality is, Jesus could’ve saved Himself that day. But Jesus knew that He could not save Himself and save others; He had to choose just one; so, Jesus chose to save us. For that reason, as the crowds continued to blaspheme Jesus, He never pled His innocence. He never refuted their statements. He never called on angels to come fight for Him. Rather, all He would say was, “Father, forgive them.” At some point, one person took notice and spoke up in verse 40.

But the other rebuked him, saying, “Do you not fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? And we indeed justly, for we are receiving the due reward of our deeds; but this man has done nothing wrong.

I don’t know what brought this on. Maybe it was the prayer of intercession that Jesus continually prayed for His enemies. Maybe it was Jesus’ demeanor throughout the whole process. Maybe it was His disposition while the crowds shouted all their mockery at Him. But somewhere along the way, one criminal began to recognize Jesus for who He is. He rebuked the other who was blaspheming Jesus. And He proclaimed Jesus’ innocence along with their guilt.

In fact, I’m not sure this criminal completely understood it in the moment, but he actually made quite a profound statement here. Look at it again. He says, “Do you not fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation.” In other words, “You’re railing against Jesus like you’re somehow better than Him; bro, we’re all here together; we’re all being punished the same; we all received the same sentence!” Yet, there’s one major difference. He says, “We indeed justly, for we are receiving the due reward of our deeds.” We earned this. We deserved this. We had this coming. “But this man/Jesus, has done nothing wrong.” We are guilty. He is innocent. And yet, He is receiving the same punishment we alone deserved.

Folks, that’s the Gospel. 1 Peter 3:18 says, For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous (that’s all of us), that He might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the Spirit. 1 Peter 2:24, He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed. 2 Corinthians 5:21, For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. Colossians 2:13-14, And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross. And Isaiah 53:5, But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed.

In other words, we were guilty. Christ was innocent. Yet, Jesus received the condemnation we deserved. Jesus received the wrath of God that we stirred up for us. And Jesus received the punishment we had earned to save us from our sin. He may not have realized it, but this thief’s words pointed to that reality. And while I’m not sure just how much of this truth this criminal understood, what he did know moved him to make this next statement. Verse 42.

And he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.”

In other words, “Grant me to live in your kingdom.” On this side of history, this makes complete sense. We know that Jesus is going to rise in three days and live forever. But in the mind of this criminal, Jesus’ life on earth is almost over. Yet, he still recognizes that Jesus will be a King. And he longs to be in Jesus’ kingdom. It’s an amazing display of faith. In fact, of all the people on earth, including Jesus’ followers/disciples, there may have been no one else in this moment who had more faith than him. Because with most everyone hurling insults and standing in opposition to Jesus, this man acknowledges his wrong, and calls upon Jesus to remember him in Christ’s kingdom.

At this point, Jesus could’ve responded any number of ways. And let’s be honest; if this were us; if we were in Jesus’ shoes, we might say something like, “You want me to remember you? After all you’ve done? I know you. I know your past. I know your thoughts. I know your sins. Maybe if you hadn’t done so much; maybe if you hadn’t waited so long; maybe if you had time to make up for all your wrongs, I’d remember you. But this is the end of the road for you. You can’t possibly earn my forgiveness; you can’t possibly fight for my fellowship; you can’t possibly work for my acceptance. It’s too little too late. Your time is up.” Unfortunately, many of us have feared that response.

If anyone had reason to feel this way, it would’ve been this man. After all, he was a criminal. We’re not sure what he did, but apparently it was bad enough to get the death penalty by crucifixion. And on top of that, Matthew 27:44 says, And the robbers (plural) who were crucified with him also reviled him in the same way. In other words, not long before this criminal makes this request, he was mocking Jesus along with the crowds. He was hurling his own insults at Jesus. He was standing/hanging in opposition to Jesus. My goodness, how easy would it have been for him to say, “Who am I kidding? No one would forgive me. No one would reconcile with me. No one would remember me. Not even Jesus.” Again, some of you may feel that way this morning. If so, listen to what Jesus says next.

And He said to him, “Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise.”

I love this. Jesus doesn’t just say, “Yeah, I’ll remember you,” like we may remember an old friend or acquaintance in high school. No, Jesus says, “Today (not tomorrow, not when you’ve made up for all you’ve done, not years/centuries down the road). Today, you will be with me in paradise.” In other words, “I won’t just remember you. You’re going to be with me!” My goodness, what’s better than that? I mean, this thief received the promise all Christians long for.

At this point, we have to stop and ask the question, “What did he do to receive this promise? What did he do to earn this promise? What did he do to achieve this promise?” The answer… is nothing. Rebuking his friend on the other cross didn’t do it. He wouldn’t come off the cross that day and become a great kingdom worker for Christ. He certainly never got the opportunity to make up for all he’d done wrong. He didn’t earn his forgiveness; he didn’t work for his salvation.

The only thing, the only thing, he did was confess faith in Christ. He took what little he could see about Jesus, and he trusted in the work of Christ. And because of it, he received the promise of eternal salvation and fellowship with Christ.

Understand, that’s the only way we can receive this promise today as well. As Ephesians 2:8-9 says, For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. The fact of the matter is, we can’t earn our citizenship in the paradise of God’s eternal Kingdom. We can’t talk our way into a good standing with Christ. And we can’t work our way into being saved by Christ. It’s a free gift of God granted to us by His grace through faith.

Now, with that said, and Brad will discuss more on this Wednesday night in our study in James, if God grants us the time to live on this earth as a Christian, we do have a responsibility to live a certain way. As Paul continues in verse 10, For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them. So, we are called to obey Christ as we live for Him and follow Him. We are called to be baptized into His death so that we might be raised with Him in His resurrection. And we are called to bear fruit in keeping with repentance (Matthew 3:8).

But the only way we can be saved/forgiven is by God’s grace through faith in Christ. Which means, you don’t have to figure this whole Christian thing out first. You don’t have to fix yourself first. You don’t have to make yourself presentable, so to speak. Because you can’t be saved based on you! You can only be saved on the basis of Christ. Which means, if you’re looking for forgiveness; if you’re hoping for salvation; if you’re longing to have that same hope of dwelling with Christ in paradise, you only need to believe/trust in Christ; to have faith in the finished work of Christ on the cross for our redemption; and to fall before Christ in humble repentance. That’s the message of the cross. That’s the message of the gospel. That’s the message we need to remind ourselves of as Christians daily.

Ultimately, that’s what/all the thief on the cross did. He simply placed his trust/hope in Jesus. I have to ask, have you done the same? Or are you still trying to earn your forgiveness and salvation? Are you still trying to work your way into a right standing and fellowship with God? Are you still trying to get yourself right before turning to Christ? If so, please know it’s a futile pursuit. It’ll get us nowhere.

As Alistair Begg puts it in one of his sermons, “Without preaching the cross [that is, the message of the finished work of Christ for our salvation] to ourselves all day and every day, we will very, very quickly revert to faith plus works as the ground of our salvation; so that, to go to the old … question – if you were to die tonight and you were getting entry into heaven, what would you say” It’s that old question of, “Why should we be allowed into heaven?” Begg says, “If you and I answer that in the first person (Because I… Because I believed. Because I have faith. Because I am this. Because I am continuing…), we’ve immediately gone wrong.” He goes on, “Loved ones, the only proper answer is in the third person. Because He…”

Then he turns our minds to the thief on the cross. He says, “I can’t wait to find that fellow one day to ask him, ‘How did that shake out for you? Because you were cussing the guy out with your friend. You’d never been in a Bible study. You never got baptized. You didn’t know a thing about church membership. And yet… you made it! You made it! How did you make it?”

And then he creates this comical scene with an angel as the thief gets to heaven. He says, “That’s what the angel must have said – how did you make it? What are you doing here?” Thief says, I don’t know. “What do you mean, you don’t know?” Well, cause I don’t know. Angel says, “Well, excuse me, Let me get my supervisor.” They go get the supervisor angel: “So, we’ve just a few questions for you. First of all, are you clear on the doctrine of justification by faith?” The guy says, “I’ve never heard of it in my life.” And what about the doctrine of Scripture? This guy is just staring. And eventually, in frustration, the angel finally says, “Well, on what basis are you here?” And the thief said, “The man on the middle cross said I can come.”

Folks, that’s the only assurance we have. But what a blessed assurance it is! Forgiveness was possible for this thief on the cross only because the man on the middle cross said so. And as much as you might struggle to believe it; as much as you might fear that you will only be rejected by Jesus, know this; forgiveness/salvation in Christ is possible for you. And you can have that assurance in Christ today So, believe; repent; submit to Christ this morning.