The Opportunity of Grace
Notes
Transcript
Introduction
Introduction
Tomorrow’s freedom is today’s surrender. What a perfect song to begin our message this morning. Good morning! Welcome to CHCC. I pray you all had a wonderful week. As we continue our way through Luke 23, we come to the foot of the cross. We are taking our time through this section as we consider everything that entails the sacrifice of Jesus. Last week we made our way with Jesus as we stumbled His way to Golgotha; cross beam on his shoulders, struggling from the severe beatings and subsequent injuries, the Roman soldiers realized that Jesus may not even make it to His crucifixion.
So in order to make sure He did, they grab a man from the crowd to carry the cross for Him. A Simon of Cyrene. And the image of this moment gives us a clear picture of what it looks like to be a disciple—to carry the cross daily and follow after Jesus. In fact, Jesus taught on this a couple of times in Luke’s gospel.
And he said to all, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.
“If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple. Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple.
As on pastor commented:
Jesus sovereignly created the symbol, even when he appeared most helpless. The image is sobering, because if we do not feel the weight of the cross, if there is no sacrifice, if there are no occasions of humiliation, we are not following Christ.
This verse is then followed by Jesus addressing women who were following behind, wailing and crying for Jesus. But He responds in Luke 23:28–30 “But turning to them Jesus said, “Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep 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.’”
Jesus, in prophetic clarity, told the women to mourn for themselves and their own people. A destruction was coming that would be so great that the nation would see curses (no children) as blessings and blessings (having children) as curses. It would be so terrible that they would cry out for the mountains to collapse on them and put them out of their misery.
And lastly, as Jesus is nailed to the cross and raised up before everyone in attendance, He forgives the Roman soldiers “for they know not what they do.”
So in short, what we see in these journey to the cross is a visual example for us on what it means to be a follower of Jesus. We then see Jesus’ heart of selflessness as He tells the women not to mourn for Him but rather for themselves. And lastly, even from the cross, Jesus continues to love others unconditionally. His forgiveness extended for the very men who hammered the nails into his wrists and feet.
And that leads us to this morning’s passage. Jesus, now upon the cross is not alone; on each side of Him is a convicted criminal. So let us consider what takes place next, and what it means for us today.
If you have your Bibles with you, please turn with me to Luke 23 as we begin in verse 32.
PRAY
In our day and age I think the imagery of the cross isn’t as powerful as it was in Jesus’ day. What I mean is that most, if not all of us, have been desensitized by the cross because we see them everywhere. I mean, our own backyard has the largest wooden crucifix in the world! There’s a cross on the front of the pulpit, there’s a cross right behind me. We wear crosses as necklaces and bracelets and earrings.
It’s everywhere! And we understand the significance; at least I think most of us do. But the cross in Jesus’ day was abhorrent! I don’t think we would be so desensitized if we had seen firsthand a real crucifixion, as the people of Jesus’ day. In fact, the Gentiles were so deeply offended by the cross that they attempted to refrain from even mentioning the word “cross.”
Part of the reason I felt the need to depict the severity of Christ’s wounds was to help us understand that the penalty of our sin and the cost of our salvation was immensely high.
C.S. Lewis, in his own unique prose and eloquence, depicts the cost Jesus paid. He writes in his book The Four Loves,
He creates the universe, already foreseeing—or should we say “seeing”? There are no tenses in God—the buzzing cloud of flies about the cross, the flayed back pressed against the uneven stake, the nails driven through the medial nerves, the repeated incipient suffocation as the body droops, the repeated torture of back and arms as it is time after time, for breath’s sake hitched up. If I may dare the biological image, God is a “host” who deliberately creates His own parasites; causes us to be that we may exploit and “take advantage of” Him. Herein is love. This is the diagram of Love Himself, the inventor of all loves.
While we, today, may be desensitized to the cross and Jesus’ day may have abhorred the image of the cross, the reality is that it is the very image and revelation of God’s love like nothing else on earth or in heaven. The pain Jesus endured on the cross goes beyond anything any of us can comprehend because the pain was so much more than just physical. It was spiritual, too. He became sin who knew no sin. The weight of our depravity fell upon His shoulders. He became a curse for us.
Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us—for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree”—
As one pastor explained it, “The cross reveals excruciating pain and excruciating love.” So let us take a look here at our passage. As Jesus takes the cross He will receive mocking taunts of rulers, soldiers, and thieves. Let’s look at verse 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.”
Once more we come across a prophetic fulfillment from the cross. This one from the book of Psalms.
But I am a worm and not a man,
scorned by mankind and despised by the people.
All who see me mock me;
they make mouths at me; they wag their heads;
“He trusts in the Lord; let him deliver him;
let him rescue him, for he delights in him!”
What is more—and rather ironic—is the admittance by the rulers that Jesus “saved others.” Of course, the evidence was overwhelming. Even Jesus’ greatest detractors could not deny His ability to “save.” And this is something Luke has made evident from early on.
In Luke 4 Jesus heals Simon’s mother of a high fever. So much so that she immediately gets up from the bed and begins to serve those in her house.
Also in chapter 4 it tells us Jesus healed “all those” who came to him with sickness and disease. Luke 5, Jesus cleanses the leper. Then later in Luke 5, with the Pharisees present, Jesus forgives and heals a paralytic.
Luke 6 He restores a withered hand (on the Sabbath). Luke 7 He heals the Centurion’s servant. Luke 8, He heals the demon possessed man. Also in Luke 8 He brings back to life the daughter of Jairus and heals a woman who had a debilitating illness for 12 years.
And that only brings us to Luke 8. The evidence is overwhelming and oftentimes the Pharisees were present. So their statement isn’t mocking in the sense that they don’t believe Jesus saved others. They know He did. It is mocking in the sense that they call for Him to save Himself.
Sadly, even with this overwhelming evidence before them, they did not believe. Instead, they inquired of one more act of miraculous power. “Come down from that cross…THEN we will believe…”
But the very fact that they got Him up onto the cross was evidence enough for them that He was not the Son of God for they saw one upon a cross as cursed by God.
his body shall not remain all night on the tree, but you shall bury him the same day, for a hanged man is cursed by God. You shall not defile your land that the Lord your God is giving you for an inheritance.
This was the most degrading and lowest form of humiliation one could endure.
And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.
To the Jews it was utter insanity that anyone who was crucified could be God. But, of course, from our 21st century perspective, we know what they did not at the time. Jesus entered triumphantly into the city a week prior as King. And He entered a few days later, once more, as the Passover lamb.
As theologian David Gooding states:
To mock Christ as the rulers and elders did was sublimely misconceived: they might as well have mocked a literal Passover lamb because, while it saved others, it could not save itself
The mockery began with the rulers—the Sadducees and Pharisees—but continued among others.
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.”
The Roman soldiers—very likely the one’s who surrounded Jesus on His way to Golgotha, cross upon His shoulders, begin to mock Him as well.
The wine offered up to Jesus was likely the wine of the Roman soldiers and was probably offered to Him in order to quench His thirst and prolong His suffering.
What is remarkable here in all of the mockery is the inscription above Jesus. Pilate had it written purposely in this manner. “This is the King of the Jews.” As R. Kent Hughes contends:
The inscription was Pilate’s grim vengeance at the Jewish leaders for manipulating him into rendering his guilty verdict.
And in John’s parallel account we read that the religious leaders fought for Pilate to change it, but he refused.
Pilate also wrote an inscription and put it on the cross. It read, “Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews.” Many of the Jews read this inscription, for the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city, and it was written in Aramaic, in Latin, and in Greek. So the chief priests of the Jews said to Pilate, “Do not write, ‘The King of the Jews,’ but rather, ‘This man said, I am King of the Jews.’ ” Pilate answered, “What I have written I have written.”
It was written in all three of the main languages of the day—Aramaic, Latin, and Greek. Thus it was a universal declaration of Jesus’ kingship.
Similar to the religious leaders, the Roman soldiers also mock Jesus, telling Him to “Save himself.” It’s a heartbreaking response after Jesus has just prayed for their forgiveness. But, like with the religious leaders’ mocking taunts, Jesus remains silent—no response is given to their jeers.
Peter would make a point of this in his letter as fulfillment of prophecy, namely Isaiah 53:9.
He committed no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth. When he was reviled, he did not revile in return; when he suffered, he did not threaten, but continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly.
To the blasphemous taunts, Jesus had nothing to say. But there is a third party on the scene ready to mock Jesus as well.
One of the criminals who were hanged railed at him, saying, “Are you not the Christ? Save yourself and us!”
Mark’s account gives a similar visual.
Let the Christ, the King of Israel, come down now from the cross that we may see and believe.” Those who were crucified with him also reviled him.
But Mark’s account suggests that early on in the crucifixion both thieves “reviled” Him. But Luke’s account suggests then that at some point one of the criminals stopped the taunts and perhaps the truth began to settle upon his heart. However, one continued to rail against Jesus, also making the same mocking taunts as the others but adds a little extra to statement. He says, “Are you not the Christ? Save yourself and us!”
If he only knew that Jesus was in fact opening the door to true and eternal salvation! Some commentators, such as I.H. Marshall, suggest that this criminal had the Zealots’ political outlook and that his contempt was fueled by Jesus’ not being a politicized Messiah.
The thought was, “This guy was supposed to SAVE us from the Roman scum! Instead he just finds himself hanging on a cross with us! He’s no Messiah!”
But then, amidst all the mockery, all the shouts of sarcasm, and all the jeers, a quiet voice stands up for Jesus and it is one of the criminals beside Him.
One of the criminals who were hanged railed at him, saying, “Are you not the Christ? Save yourself and us!” 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.”
We may wonder what caused this thief’s heart to change in a near instant. Perhaps it was the words Jesus spoke to the women mourning on the road to the crucifixion. Perhaps it was Jesus’ regal silence against the jeers of the crowd. Perhaps it was Jesus’ prayer from the cross, asking the Father to forgive the Roman guards for their part in the crucifixion. Possibly a culmination of everything.
Regardless, His heart was changed and He came to understand something remarkable. He came to the point we all must come to if we are to truly accept Jesus as Lord and Savior of our lives. He recognized he was a sinner in need of grace, and furthermore, he understood Jesus to be unworthy of the punishment of the cross.
This thief owned his crucifixion as just punishment for his crimes. He also knew that he had no right to request Jesus to help him. This kind of awareness of one’s sin is a necessary step to receive Jesus. For who would even think they had a need for a Savior if they failed to recognize their sin?
As R. Kent Hughes states:
Most people live in a foggy world of ambiguity and relativism, falling in love with the dark contours of their lives, convincing themselves their sins are noble and glorious—that their pride is “dignity,” their unwillingness to forgive “character.”
This thief on the cross had come to hold the posture that Jesus had called “blessed” in His beatitudes.
“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
This thief understood the reality of His sin and it broke Him and bent His heart towards His Savior. And with that, the penitent thief makes a humble request of Jesus and thus signaling his faith in Him.
And he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.”
Please note that the thief didn’t say, “Remember my works.” Nor did he say, “Remember that I aligned myself with you at the end.” He simply says, “Remember me.” It was a simple request and cry for mercy.
And the reality is that this is all any of us can ask for. I think of the final words of the famed astronomer, Copernicus. He said, “I do not ask for the grace that you gave St. Paul; nor can I dare to ask for the grace that you granted to St. Peter; but, the mercy which you did show to the dying robber, that mercy, show to me.”
And what I love so much about this moment is this. Up until this point upon the cross, Jesus has remained silent. The religious leaders mock Him, He is silent. The Roman soldiers take their turn with similar jeers. Jesus continues to not say a word. The other thief mocks Jesus and Jesus again has no response. But this other thief, with the humble request for mercy stirs the heart of Jesus.
In the midst of His great sorrow and utter exhaustion and agony, Jesus gives this thief the most beautiful words any of us could receive.
And he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” And he said to him, “Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise.”
The word translated “Paradise,” paradeisos , bore the root meaning of “garden.” It came to represent the future bliss of God’s people. The New Testament writers used it twice as a symbol of Heaven.
And I know that this man was caught up into paradise—whether in the body or out of the body I do not know, God knows— and he heard things that cannot be told, which man may not utter.
He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who conquers I will grant to eat of the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God.’
What a remarkable promise by Jesus to the thief! Not only would he be in paradise, he would be in paradise with Jesus that very day! “Today you will be with me…” The language here suggests a literal closeness. It means “close by me.”
This Jesus would soon die as the thief looked on. But he would not be long behind him. The Roman soldiers would eventually break the thief’s legs to hasten his death, he would soon after breathe his last, and would pass away. What then? Where would he be? In paradise, beside Jesus! Far away from his previous agony and sin. As theologian Alexander Maclaren explains this moment:
He was a new star swimming into the firmament of heaven, a new face before the throne of God, another sinner redeemed from earth!
The thief’s redemption reveals to us the immediacy of paradise for the departed. Sinners who thrust themselves upon the grace of Jesus go into the presence of God. As Paul puts it in his letter to the Corinthians, “away from the body and at home with the Lord” (2 Cor. 5:8).
What is more, the redemption of the thief upon the cross makes it crystal clear that salvation is not by any amount of works. It is solely an act of grace.
But if it is by grace, it is no longer on the basis of works; otherwise grace would no longer be grace.
I once heard it said, “To presume on our works is to be lost.” The example of the thief here should light a fire of hope in our hearts that burns as bright as the sun. Why? Because you may think, “If only people knew my sin. They would know I am beyond grace.” But the humbling, gracious, and beautiful reality is that none are beyond the grace of God. In fact, the only thing that will put us beyond hope is to be like the thief who rejected Christ.
The thief’s redemption reveals the beautiful truth that it is never too late to turn to Christ. If you are still breathing, you can still receive the gift of salvation. It is a gift that we cannot and do not earn.
Samuel Johnson was fond of quoting a hopeful epitaph for those who despair. The image is that of a man being pitched to his death from horseback.
Between the stirrup and the ground,
I mercy ask’d, I mercy found.
And let us understand that the thief’s reward of Heaven is the very same as every believer who calls on the name of the Lord to be saved. From the greatest to the least. He receives the same heaven as every other believer. Jesus makes a remark to this in a parable in Matthew’s gospel.
In Jesus’ parable of the workers in the vineyard (Matthew 20:1–16), the workers who were hired for the last hour were paid the same as those who had labored all day. The workers who worked the whole day complained, but the master had a response:
Take what belongs to you and go. I choose to give to this last worker as I give to you. Am I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to me? Or do you begrudge my generosity?’ So the last will be first, and the first last.”
As author Joseph Bayly so simply puts it:
Those that come last receive as much as the first.
As we close, we need to understand the simple fact about this passage. It isn’t a passage about a good thief. Rather, it is a passage about a wretched thief and a perfect Savior. It is a passage that reveals once again the fact that Jesus loves to forgive sins.
The thief had sin in him. As the thief hung from the cross, the penalty of sin was on him. But in his faith, that penalty of sin—by grace—shifted from him to Jesus. And all of us, like the thief, have sin in us. And while we may not hang from a cross, that sin rests on us, unless, like the thief we are saved by grace through faith, and in turn, that penalty then rests upon Jesus.
And so the life altering question we must all answer is this: Is your sin on you or on Christ in whom there is no sin? If it is still upon you, I pray you will come to Him in faith and be with Him in paradise.
PRAY
