Bel Air #1
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Preaching on the cross
Preaching on the cross
39 And one of the malefactors which were hanged railed on him, saying, If thou be Christ, save thyself and us. 40 But the other answering rebuked him, saying, Dost not thou fear God, seeing thou art in the same condemnation? 41 And we indeed justly; for we receive the due reward of our deeds: but this man hath done nothing amiss. 42 And he said unto Jesus, Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom. 43 And Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, To day shalt thou be with me in paradise.
pray
Introduction
Without preaching on the cross, we will all day and every day revert to faith plus works as the grounds for our salvation. Think about this . Everyone here, what would you say when you got to heaven?
This is a message we all need to take to heart.
Faith
Repentance
Forgiveness
Address some thoughts we were talking about earlier
39 And one of the malefactors which were hanged railed on him, saying, If thou be Christ, save thyself and us.
Jesus’ prophecy was fulfilled
37 For I say unto you, that this that is written must yet be accomplished in me, And he was reckoned among the transgressors: for the things concerning me have an end.
prophecy of a sign of the Suffering Servant
12 Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great, And he shall divide the spoil with the strong; Because he hath poured out his soul unto death: And he was numbered with the transgressors; And he bare the sin of many, And made intercession for the transgressors.
Matthew and Mark agree the robbers who were crucified with Him also reviled him in the same way.
44 The thieves also, which were crucified with him, cast the same in his teeth.
32 Let Christ the King of Israel descend now from the cross, that we may see and believe. And they that were crucified with him reviled him.
It seems though that one of the thieves changes his mind while the other thief carries on .
The latter hears the rulers laughing at Jesus’ claims to save others.
35 And the people stood beholding. And the rulers also with them derided him, saying, He saved others; let him save himself, if he be Christ, the chosen of God.
The thief adds a twist: why not save him, too?
In truth, Jesus has already saved one criminal this day. By refusing to defend Himself against legal charges to Pilate, Jesus sets then stage for the Jewish leaders to demand Barabbas’ release.
So this thief is being completely sarcastic.
He doesn’t believe Jesus is the Christ
He doesn’t believe Jesus can save Himself or anyone else.
The thief is dying a horrible and painful death and strikes out without knowing what he is saying.
That does not excuse him however.
The second thief is in just as much pain
and he has just as little proof that Jesus is the Christ
But He does believe Jesus is innocent and despite his crimes, he fears God.
Unlike his counterpart, he will take a leap of faith
he knows he will die, but he asks Jesus for life anyways
Our next verse
40 But the other answering rebuked him, saying, Dost not thou fear God, seeing thou art in the same condemnation?
The other thief reconsiders
He starts with a realization
God is to be feared
Whatever choices that brought them to commit crimes no longer mattered
The Romans abuses against the Jews no longer mattered
God is God and His authority and power are to be respected
He then applies that truth to their situation
He and the other thief deserve what they are experiencing
Next, he sees the difference in Jesus’ situation
Jesus is innocent
He has done nothing wrong
If God is to be feared, and they deserve to be crucified, how can they ridicule an innocent man
It is a mockery of God’s justice and punishment
The first thief cries out, “Are you not the Christ? Save yourself and us!”
The second thief understands they don’t deserve to be saved
And if the first thief is wrong about that, maybe he is wrong about the first part, too.
Maybe this is the Christ
Our next verse
41 And we indeed justly; for we receive the due reward of our deeds: but this man hath done nothing amiss.
The difference between the two men seems to be that the repentant thief accepts who and what God is, and what he himself is.
He understands God is sovereign over the world and demands justice for sins.
This is the thief’s confession
He admits he is guilty
He admits that God is a just God.
The repentant thief is the third witness to verify that Jesus is innocent after Pilate and Herod Antipas.
But he is the only one who then submits to Jesus as His Lord.
42 And he said unto Jesus, Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom.
He declares his belief that Jesus is the Christ
Jesus is King
Whatever is going on now, however hopeless it looks, Jesus will have a kingdom and He has authority to decide who will join Him.
This one thief hanging on the cross next to Jesus realizes that this doesn’t add up
He knows he and his partner deserve their punishment
But Jesus is innocent
He realizes Jesus’ crucifixion and the insults are a mockery of the justice of God.
And yet, Jesus hangs there on the cross forgiving the priests who disparage Him and the soldiers who nailed Him to the cross.
The thief realizes if they are wrong about his guilt, then they might be wrong about who He is.
The thief realizes, this is “the Christ of God, his Chosen One”.
And if that is the case, His present situation is confusing, but it is not permanent
He will be king’
God will see to it
The thief does the only thing he can
have faith
in the man on the cross next to him
This brings us to our last verse
43 And Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, To day shalt thou be with me in paradise.
Think about this response
Jesus’ response contains important ties to theology
The thief has confessed his guilt and affirmed that Jesus is Lord, he cannot get baptized: baptism is not necessary for salvation.
Jesus tells the thief “today”; the thief will be aware and awake this day: there is no such thing as souls sleep; when “sleep” is used to refer to death, it is a metaphor.
The thief will be in paradise; he has committed a crime serious enough that he admits he deserves crucifixion, but after he dies, he will go straight to paradise.
The thief will be with Jesus ; Jesus promises they will be together in paradise that day.
So let us go back to our original question
If you were to die today, and you were getting entry into heaven, what would you say?
If you would answer that in the first person, you have already got it wrong.
Because I...
Because I believed
Because I have faith
Everyone the only proper answer is in the third person
Because He...
Think about the thief on the cross.
I think it would be interesting to meet this man someday
Maybe I would ask him this
How did that work for you?
One second you were cussing the guy out with your friend.
You never did a Bible study
You never got baptized
You were not a member of a church
And yet, here you are
You made it!!
You really made it!!
How did you make it???
Can you picture this
That is what the angel probably said
Angel :What are you doing here?
Thief: Well, I don’t know
Angel : What do you mean you don’t know?
Thief: Well, cause I really don’t know
Angel: Well, wait a minute, I need to get my supervisor
The angel goes and gets his supervisor angel.
Supervisor: So, we have a few questions for you
Thief: ok
Supervisor: First, are you clear on the doctrine of justification by faith?
Thief: Nope, I have never heard of that in my life.
Supervisor: And what about the doctrine of Scripture, tell me what you know?
The thief is just staring at the supervisor in confusion.
Now eventually in frustration,
Supervisor: On what basis are you here?
And the thief just looked at him and said
Thief: The man on he middle cross said I could come.
Now that is the only answer
that is the only answer
And honestly if I don’t preach the Gospel to myself each day and everyday. I will find myself beginning to trust myself.
I will trust my experience
My experience which is part of my fallenness as a man.
If I take my eyes off the cross
I will forget the work Jesus did and I will start living as my salvation depends upon me.
As soon as you go there, two things can happen
It can lead you to abject despair or a horrible kind of arrogance
And it is only the cross of Christ that deals with both the dreadful depths of despair and the arrogance the pride of man that says “I can figure this out and I am doing perfectly fine on my own.
No you are not
Because a sinless Savior died
My sinful soul is counted free
For God the just is satisfied
To look on Him and pardon me.
Understand
We are not saved by good works, we are not saved as a result of our professions, but we are saved as a result of what Christ has achieved through His work.
Remember Jesus said this
30 When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he said, It is finished: and he bowed his head, and gave up the ghost.
pray
