Jesus Died For You - How Will You Respond To Him?

Jesus died for our sins and rose again in victory. That is the central message of the Bible. That is the core message of the gospel and it is the message the apostles preached. The apostle Paul said “Jesus was delivered over to death for our sins and was raised to life for our justification” (Rom. 4:25 NIV). The apostle Peter wrote “For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God” (1Pet. 3:18 NIV). Jesus said “Fear not, I am the first and the last, and the living one. I died, and behold I am alive forevermore” (Rev. 1:17-18 ESV).

And through His death and resurrection, the Father offers free and full forgiveness to all kinds of people. It doesn’t matter what’s in your past or what you’re involved in now. God forgives any and all sin through Jesus Christ and then gives you and I new life that enables us to live obediently for Him, if we will but trust in Him.

Burt while this salvation is free, it is not unconditional. We must make a saving response to Jesus Christ. What is a saving response to Jesus Christ? What does it look like? What does it involve?

In our passage this morning, the author of this gospel, Luke, describes a saving response to Jesus Christ. In fact, Luke describes Jesus’ crucifixion from the standpoint of the responses of four groups of people: the masses, the religious leaders, the soldiers, and the criminals. Each of them makes some kind of response to Jesus. But only one of them makes a saving response to Jesus.

Main point: Different people respond differently to Jesus based on their background and personality. But not every response to Jesus is a saving response. What is a saving response to Jesus?

#1: The response of the masses

Notice with me first the response of the masses. The response of the masses. We see them in Luke 23:35. They show up briefly; Luke describes them briefly. We’re simply told that the masses were “watching” as Jesus was crucified.

That sounds weird to us today. We get together to watch the game or go out to dinner or go prayer walking with our church family, not to watch someone get nailed to a cross and die a slow and painful death. But in the ancient world, executions were public and they tended to draw a large crowd. Certainly some of those folks who came had a morbid fascination with death and suffering.

But I’d say most were probably drawn to the crucifixion of Christ because of who He was. Jesus was an immensely popular man. He had worked miracles and healed people of diseases and cast out demons. Jesus taught people about God with clarity and vividness and conviction. And how He loved people. I’m convinced that to encounter Jesus of Nazareth is to experience love like never before. Here is a man who seems to love you to the core of who you are with a purifying love, even as you also got the impression that He knows you better than anyone ever knew you.

The crowds, the masses, are standing, watching Jesus as He suffers. And many of them, particularly those among them who had met Him personally or witnessed His work, they’re watching him kind of dazed and stunned. How could it be that this man is now hanging on a cross half-dead?

Feeling sympathy toward Jesus is not saving faith!

Jesus does not need our sympathy. He demands & deserves our worship and trust.

They’re stunned that he’s suffering and dying. Surprised that this is his fate. Feeling sympathy toward him. But church, feeling sympathy toward Jesus is not a saving response to Christ. Feeling sorry for Jesus is not the same as turning from your sin and trusting in Christ. Jesus neither demands or needs our compassion. He demands and deserves our worship and our wholehearted trust. The masses did not respond savingly to Jesus.

#2: The response of the religious leaders and the soldiers

Notice with me next the response of the religious leaders. The response of the religious leaders. Luke is clearly more concerned to describe the response of the religious leaders to Christ. After all, if any group of people in 1st-century Jerusalem should have known who this crucified man was, it was them. Why? Well the religious leaders were the Bible experts, the clergy. They were Pharisees and Sadducees and scribes.

“Rulers” = religious leaders

Pharisees

Sadduccees

Priests?

Scribes?

All three of these groups of men were far more acquainted with the Scriptures than the people themselves were. Their Scriptures - our OT - clearly pointed to the Messiah - what he would do, how he would teach, even how he would die. And despite this, even as He was right in front of them, doing all their scriptures had promised He would do, even dying precisely as the scriptures said he would die - they failed to recognize Him for who He was.

And whereas the Jewish crowds are standing, wordless, watching Jesus suffer, the religious leaders (“the rulers”) actually dare to open their mouths and make fun of Him. Notice what they say:

The New International Version Chapter 23

35 The people stood watching, and the rulers >>even<< sneered at him. They said, “He saved others; let him save himself if he is God’s Messiah, the Chosen One.”

Now notice exactly what they were saying. “He saved others”, they say. We should imagine them putting “saved” in quotation marks. He “saved” others. It’s sarcasm. The religious leaders didn’t for one second believe that Jesus had actually brought salvation to anyone, because in their eyes this man couldn’t possibly actually be the Savior, the Messiah.

And for them, the fact that He was dying in this way, by crucifixion, was the final piece of evidence for them that He wasn’t the Messiah. Crucifixion was absolutely the most painful and humiliating way to die. It was devised to inflict the maximum amount of physical and mental suffering and embarrassment. To be crucified was literally the lowest point a person could sink to in the first century Roman Empire. It was so low that Rome had a law that said Roman citizens could never be executed in this way except for treason.

So for the Messiah to be dying by crucifixion, for Him to be subjected to this torture and this shame, in their eyes there was no way He could be the Messiah. The Messiah, after all, was a king! God had abandoned Him, they thought. He can’t be the Messiah.

And what’s crazy is that even as they mock Jesus because they think He can’t possibly be the Messiah, they are fulfilling the scripture about His death right down to the letters.

Psalm 22:7-8

Psalm 22:7–8 ESV

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!”

That’s why they word their sneers the way they do. “He saved others; let him save himself” - and here it is - “let him save himself, if He is God’s Messiah, the Chosen One.” Sounds a lot like how the devil tried to tempt Jesus in the wilderness. “If you are the Son of God, command this stone to be bread” (Luke 4:3 ESV). “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down from this temple” (Luke 4:9 ESV).

In fact we can look at the response of the religious leaders and the soldiers together because they basically amount to the same thing.

The New International Version (Chapter 23)

36 The soldiers >>also<< came up and mocked him. They offered him wine vinegar 37 and said, “If you are the king of the Jews, save yourself.”

But there’s one more thing I want you to notice about what the religious leaders say. “He saved others; let him save himself.” In other words, if you are who you say you are, if you are the Messiah, prove it by doing for yourself what you’ve been claiming you can do for other people. You “saved” them. But you can’t even save yourself!”

Of course what they don’t realize is this. He couldn’t save himself, but the reason for that was not that He wasn’t the Messiah. It was precisely because He was the Messiah. He had come to save others. But the way in which He would save others meant sacrificing Himself on our behalf. Jesus lived HIs whole life up to this point knowing that if He was to save others, He couldn’t save himself. He would have to give up His own life.

The response of the religious leaders and the soldiers was scorn, sneering, jeering, shaming, mocking. That’s not a saving response to Jesus.

#3: The response of the criminals

Now we come to the response of the criminals. And it is very different. In fact, notice something with me here. Notice that Luke’s crucifixion account both begins and ends with the criminals.

Luke 23:32–43 ESV

Two others, who were criminals, were led away to be put to death with him. And when they came to the place that is called The Skull, there they crucified him, and the criminals, one on his right and one on his left. And Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” And they cast lots to divide his garments. 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!” 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.” 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.”

Groups of people in Luke 23:32-43

The criminals (vv. 32-33)

The masses (v. 35a)

The religious leaders (v. 35b)

The soldiers (v. 36)

The criminals (vv. 39-43)

Luke begins and ends with the criminals. Sandwiched in between are the masses, the religious leaders, the soldiers. Those responses are important, but by putting at the start and the end of the paragraph, Luke wants us to focus on them in contrast to the others. The masses, the religious leaders, and the soldiers — none of them have saving responses to Jesus. No repentance. No confession of sin. No faith in Jesus. Certainly some did have these things, but as a whole they did not.

And keep in mind, these are mostly religious people. With the exception of the soldiers who were Roman, the rest were Jews. Only the criminals — and in fact, out of the two criminals only the one — actually displays a saving response to Christ.

We should pause here and consider what this means for us. Do you think it is easy for people who have grown up in church their whole lives to somehow be in the greatest spiritual danger? I do. I’m serious about this. I am grateful beyond measure that my parents had me at church every time the doors were opened. They gave me a foundation for the faith I now have. But the fact is that for years the very same church involvement that helped me in that way also served to mask my own spiritual problems.

There’s something about being surrounded by believers and Bible verses and spiritual language and hymns and sermons that puts a person at risk. It’s like a band-aid being used to cover up a wound. I was lost as lost could be and being surrounded by Christian things and Christian people blinded my lost condition.

Don’t misunderstand me. I’m not saying my lostness was their fault; it was mine. And I’m not saying it’s better not to grow up in church. I’m saying beware, Christian. Beware of the tendency to think that your long history of involvement in this church, and your family’s long history of involvement in this church, somehow means that all is well with your soul or between you and God. And this passage is a warning to you and to me both. The religious leaders and the religious masses did not respond savingly to Jesus. Who did? The criminals.

I heard a man say once that prison ministry is one of the easiest places to do Christian ministry, because being locked away for felonies has a way of removing a person’s blindness to their sin. You have to know that you are a sinner in order to know that you need saving. Prisoners by nature tend to know they are sinners who need saving. Their very living environment is itself a constant reminder of it.

The criminals, of all people in Luke’s gospel, show us what a saving response to Jesus looks like. Let’s look at it.

B. “God, I’m in the wrong”

The first characteristic of a saving response to Jesus is simply to say “God, I’m in the wrong.” To own your sin. To forsake any idea that you can earn a right standing with God. To abandon the notion that if you’re good enough you can work your way into heaven. A saving response to Jesus Christ begins with saying, “God, I’m in the wrong.”

Look at how the repentant criminal puts it. He says, “Do you not fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation?” The other criminal had basically been joining in with the others in mocking Jesus. Look at verse 39: “One of the criminals who hung there hurled insults at him: ‘Aren’t you the Messiah? Save yourself and us!’” (Luke 23:39 NIV). He’s just a copycat. He doesn’t even have any originality! There’s no difference between him and the others.

But the other criminal, Luke tells us, rebuked him. “‘Don’t you fear God,’ he said, ‘since you are under the same sentence? We are punished justly, for we are getting what our deeds deserve’” (Luke 23:40-41a). We are punished justly, he says. We deserve this, he says. It is right that we are being executed, he says. “God, I am in the wrong.”

Man, is that not a hard thing to say? Everyone struggles to accept blame. There was a time in my life when I actually believed I had the humility to accept blame graciously. “Not a problem for me,” I would say. I can hear criticism. I can accept blame. I’m humble.”

Not anymore. You say, “Well, Dustin, what happened to change you?” Two things. First, I got married. I realized pretty quickly how hard it really was for me to accept blame, because nothing really shines a light on your sins and failures like committing yourself to another person and living with them.

The second thing that happened was that I became a pastor. And that was really tough, because pastors generally take a lot of criticism. If a man sets out to be a pastor, God will teach him humility and he’ll do it through allowing people to criticize you.

In fact, I remember one of my friends preached his first sermon. I went to hear him preach. I don’t really remember anything from his sermon, but do you know what I do remember? The comment he received after. The sermon he had preached was about how God is a Father to those who believe. The person came up after and shook his hand and said, “Man, I really wish you could’ve heard Charles Stanley preach the sermon he preached last Sunday on the same thing. You should listen to his sermon and maybe try to learn from it.” The person who said that to him was his dad.

It’s endemic in our nature as fallen human beings; it goes all the way back to the first couple and the first sin. God confronts Adam: “What is this thing that you’ve done?” Adam points to Eve and says, “Well, that woman — the woman you gave me, by the way — that woman made me do it.” God turns to Eve and says “What is thing that you’ve done?” She points to the serpent and says “He made me to do it.” God still punished Adam and Eve. There’s never any point in evading blame. We’re not fooling God.

It’s hard to accept blame. It’s one thing for me to talk about my own struggles and my own weaknesses. But for someone else to point them out? That’s even harder. And yet, we desperately need to be able to hear criticism without freaking out. We desperately need to be able to accept blame graciously without getting defensive. Because only when we can own our sin, only when we can humble ourselves and let our defenses down, only when we can say “God, I’m in the wrong” are we ready to be saved. Jesus said “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance” (Luke 5:31-32 ESV).

Luke 5:31–32 ESV

And Jesus answered them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance.”

300 Quotations for Preachers The Beginning of Good Works

The confession of evil works is the beginning of good works.

A saving response to Jesus begins by confessing sin. “God, I’m in the wrong.”

A. “God, you’re in the right”

The other side of admitting that I am in the wrong is being able to admit, “God, you’re in the right.” Look at how the criminal puts it in verse 41: “We are getting what our deeds deserve. But this man has done nothing wrong” (Luke 23:41b NIV).

God is holy and perfect. God makes no mistakes. He’s never wrong. He’s never in the wrong. That means that when God pronounces us guilty of sin, we’re guilty of sin — period.

This is what king David did as he confessed his sin with Bathsheba.

Psalm 51:3-4

Psalm 51:3–4 ESV

For I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me. Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight, so that you may be justified in your words and blameless in your judgment.

He never stands in need of being corrected. He’s never guilty of misunderstanding or misrepresenting things. Our task is not to argue with God on that account but rather to submit to His verdict and confess, “You’re right. I’m in the wrong. You’re right.”

Rom 3:19

Romans 3:19 ESV

Now we know that whatever the law says it speaks to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be stopped, and the whole world may be held accountable to God.

C: “Have mercy on me!”

“God, I’m in the wrong, you’re in the right.” If this is true — if we are in the wrong, if we are guilty of sin, if we are helpless in our sin apart from grace, and if God is also holy and just and righteous when He pronounces us sinners, then that is our only hope. Our only hope is that God might have compassion on us and not do to us as we deserve. Our only hope n other words, is that God will have mercy on us.

Do you think the criminal receives mercy? Well, let’s look at verse 42. “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom” (Luke 23:42 NIV). He recognizes that Jesus is the coming Messianic king - not even the religious leaders recognized that. And He simply asks Jesus to remember Him. Remember me for good when you come into your king. Remember me favorably at the last day, the day of judgment. He doesn’t say “I’m worthy of your kingdom because I’m a good man.” He knows that isn’t true. He hasn’t been good. He simply says, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom”.

Conclusion and call for response

This is what saving faith looks like. This is what repentance looks like. “God, I’m in the wrong. God, you’re in the right. God, have mercy on me, a sinner.”

How does Jesus respond to that? “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise” (Luke 23:43 NIV). And that’s what grace looks like. Not getting what you do deserve. Getting what you do not deserve.

And notice this: salvation is all of grace. This thief on the cross will have no opportunity to serve Jesus in this life. No opportunity to do good works. He’ll never have the chance to attend church. He won’t even have the chance to demonstrate that he’s repentant. He simply has faith. “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.”

Some of us have a problem with deathbed conversions. You know what I mean? Someone who has not lived for Christ during his earthly life, maybe even he’s been hostile to believers during his earthly life — but on his deathbed, hours or days before his death, He trusts Christ and is saved. And yet here we are — we’ve served, we’ve given, we’ve obeyed. We feel like we’ve earned it. But he hasn’t. But we haven’t earned it either, and if we think we have, we don’t understand grace. Grace is by definition a gift. It’s unearned. Always undeserved.

And the door of grace is still open. I love what one very ancient Christian pastor said in the 2nd century:

To him who still remains in this world no repentance is too late. The approach to God’s mercy is open, and the access is easy to those who seek and apprehend the truth. [Cyprian of Carthage]

Have you trusted in Christ savingly? Have you made a saving response to Jesus? Can you honestly say with conviction and sincerity, “God, I am in the wrong, you are in the right, and if I’m to have eternal life, you’re going to have to have mercy on me”? If you haven’t, then salvation is not yours.

And don’t think, “Well the thief on the cross waited until the last minute. I’ll wait until the last minute. I’ll get right with God eventually. Right now I just want to have fun. I’ll take care of eternity eventually. Hear this quote, church, if anybody is thinking that way.

300 Quotations for Preachers from the Puritans (God Has Made No Promise of Late Repentance)

God, who has made a promise to late repentance, has made no promise of late repentance; and though true repentance is never too late, yet late repentance is seldom true.

God will save anyone who repents, even if at the end of their life. But there is no guarantee that you will have that chance. There is no guarantee that you’ll have the presence of mind late in life to repent. There is no guarantee that you won’t harden your heart to the point that repentance is impossible later in life.

[Cue musicians]

Jesus told a parable, or a story about the kind of person who can obtain mercy from God. Two men together in a temple praying. One is a self-righteous man. He stands up and begins to thank God that he is such a good man. “God, I thank you,” he says, “that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I get” (Luke 18:11-12 ESV). That man does not receive mercy from God. Do you know why? He doesn’t receive mercy from God because He too self-righteous to realize how much he needs mercy.

But the other man does receive mercy. Why? Because he knows He needs it and isn’t afraid to admit it. He simply says, “God, be merciful to me, a sinner!”

Do you need mercy today? Can you honestly say to God, “God, I’m in the wrong; you’re in the right; please have mercy on me”? Friend, if you can say that, salvation is yours. It can be yours this morning. “If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.”

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