Sermon Tone Analysis

Today You Will Be With Me

KATHIE IRELAND TESTIMONY

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Good morning!

It is great to get to see you all again today.

If you are joining us online through the livestream, the Faithlife Audio, or even just the Faithlife bulletin and notes, we are all excited for you to be a part of our church family.

This month we have been talking about Jesus’ last words on the cross.

Jesus didn’t say much after He was arrested.

He didn’t argue, complain, or curse those who brutally and unfairly beat, tortured, and murdered Him.

In fact, when He did speak, His words were exactly the opposite.

In week one of this series we talked about the moment He asked His Heavenly Father to forgive the people who tortured Him.

The second week we examined the heart breaking moment that Jesus was completely alone as God turned from Him and couldn’t look upon our sin that Jesus had taken upon Himself for our sake.

Last week we talked about our unfinished business as we discussed Jesus completing His mission and declaring the work He was send here to do “Finished!”

Today we are going to wrap up the series by talking about Jesus’ famous last words to a criminal who was hanging on a cross next to Him.

If you have your bibles, you can find this story in chapter 23 of Luke.

Before we look at these famous last words, let me ask you a question.

Are you in a right relationship with God?

If something suddenly happened to you and this was your last moment on earth, what would happen to you?

When I was in high school, Audio Adrenaline came out with a fun song posing this question.

The song is called “DC-10” and points out that you don’t know when you are going to die.

You could get hit in the head with a DC-10, hit by a Mack truck, or it could just suddenly happen while you are taking a nap in your easy chair.

The last part of the song says, “A 747 fell out of heaven, Crashed through the roof of a 7-11, You’re working on a slurpee, Things get hazy, Reach for a twinkie now you’re pushing up daisies.

Do you know where you’re gonna go?”

While Jesus was on the cross people would walk by and mock Him.

They would shout insults and scoff at Him.

The religious people even made fun of Him saying, “He saved others, but can’t save himself!”

He was given a mock crown and a sign saying, “This is the King of the Jews” hung above Him in mockery.

One of the criminals on another cross said, “If you are the Messiah prove it by saving yourself.

While you are at it, save us too!”

For whatever reason, the other criminal mentioned in this story realized the truth.

His eyes had been opened to who Jesus really was and he told the other criminal, “We deserve to die for our crimes, but Jesus hasn’t done anything wrong.”

Then he spoke to Jesus saying, “Remember me when you come into your Kingdom.”

He didn’t say, “Remember the good things I’ve done.

Remember how I stood up for you today.

Remember how I went to church all the time.”

Just, “Remember me.”...

The meaning of the root word used for “paradise” means “garden.”

Here we have garden imagery all over this moment in Jesus’ life.

Jesus comes to us as the “New Adam,” bringing a new promise, offering Himself to us as the tree of life.

We are like the two thieves.

We are given a choice to accept His grace and receive His mercy.

We can choose the tree of knowledge, leaning on our own tree of understanding, or we can choose the tree of life and be right with God.

Are you right with God?

When it comes to being right with God, people typically fall into one of four categories.

There are those who say they are...

SECURE BUT UNSURE.

This is a tough place to be.

For the majority of my younger life I fell into this category.

This is one reason I think so highly of Craig Groeschel and LifeChurch.

I wrestled with this question a lot.

I knew I had a relationship with Jesus and that He loved me and I was forgiven, but did He really?

I had so many questions that never felt answered.

I was so unsure about a lot of things.

Then I would go to church and hear about how bad of a person I was and that I needed Jesus and every week they would do an “altar call” and I felt like I was supposed to go down an re-invite Jesus into my heart.

If you have ever felt like that was the category you were in, I know how tough that can be.

Never fully having a peace about that question, consistently stressed about salvation, and unsure about your relationship with God.

2. SURE BUT NOT SECURE.

Some people may be the opposite.

They feel sure, but are not secure.

They believe in religion, or that they are good enough, or in something all together different, but in reality they are not secure with God.

3. NOT SURE AND NOT SECURE.

Another group would be not sure AND not secure.

A lot of people in the world fall into this category.

Think of someone who you ask if they believe in God or what it takes to get to heaven, and this person would be the one who says, “I don’t know.

I’m not sure really, but I kinda think this...”

4. SECURE AND SURE.

The fourth category would be someone who is secure and sure.

My hope and prayer as we study God’s word is that not only would we find ourselves in this category, but that we will also be equipped with the wisdom to lead other’s who might be in a different category to the place where God can grow them into a place of peace and confidence as they say, “Beyond a shadow of doubt I know I am right with God.”

So, how do we get to that place of confidence with God? Today I want to focus on three questions.

If you are taking notes, our first question is this...

DO YOU SEE YOUR NEED?

Just like the thief who asked Jesus to remember him, do you see your need?

We are one of those two thieves.

The one thief said, “We are getting what we deserve.

We deserve to die.”

In other words, “We are guilty and deserve punishment.”

What about you?

Are you the thief that realizes what you deserve or the thief that just wants to be saved.

Haven’t done that much wrong.

Pretty good person.

Never killed anyone.

Never stolen anything.

I should be right with God.

In Romans, Paul explains how everyone has fallen short of God’s standard.

God has made Himself known to everyone since the beginning of time, but we choose to follow our foolish ways instead.

Even religious people do the same things.

In a very famous verse, Paul says...

The problem is that many people just don’t see their need.

If you back up to chapter one, Paul explains how God made His truth obvious to people, but they suppressed it by their wickedness.

Refused to worship God or give Him thanks.

You might think, “How could anyone ever do that?

I could never do that!”

Just think about it for a second though.

You don’t have to raise your hand or anything, but have you ever told a lie?

We know it’s wrong to lie to someone, but at some point in your life you probably have.

Maybe just a little one.

Bent the truth a tiny bit.

It’s still a lie.

What about stealing?

I’ve never stolen anything.