It's good to be with you again this evening, and I pray God will be with us continually as we go forward into the preaching service. Jesus, thou art the sinner's friend. I like that. I like that a lot. If he is the sinner's friend, then perhaps he is my friend. Because I stand before you as a sinner. And I trust that I would be not a practicing as much as I have been center, but I pray that. If I'm saved, I trust that it's by the grace of God, so I stand before you a center saved. I want to turn to the book of Luke chapter 23. Jesus Christ, our Lord, said seven things upon the cross. All seven of those is very, very important to look upon and consider. You could say, well, you said that last night. Well, that's right. I'm gonna say it again tonight, probably say it again tomorrow. Luke chapter 23, verse 39. And one of the malefactors which were hanged railed upon him saying, if thou be Christ, save thyself in us. But the other answering rebuked him saying, dost not thou fear God? Seeing thou art in the same condemnation, And we indeed justly, for we have, for we received the due reward of our deeds. But this man had done nothing amiss. And he said unto Jesus, Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom. And Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, today shalt thou be with me in paradise. I love the expression, and I love every word in that expression. As I said at Old Mill the other night, I have favorite text, I also have favorite words in favorite text. But I love every word in that verse 43, every word in that expression of our Lord. Verily I say unto thee, today shalt thou be with me in paradise. But we look upon that as important from several standpoint, several standpoint, several things to consider. Verily, I say unto thee, he's speaking to the thief on the cross, one thief on the cross. How many thieves were there? There were two. Were there more? No, there wasn't. Was there just one thief? No, there were two. Two thieves. These men were thieves. They were criminals. It calls them malfactors. That means evildoers. These men have done evil. They have been caught. They have been sentenced to die. They are being crucified with Christ, one on the right, Jesus in the middle, one on his left. At this point, one is, it says, railing or railed on him. The word railed means to speak reproachfully or to blaspheme. How many of those thieves was reproaching the Lord? It says here. One of them, the other hearing the reproach defends the Lord. Now that is very, very interesting. This man is defending Jesus Christ. How long does it take the Lord to born someone again? That's bad English. I know, but you know what I'm saying? Let me get theological. How long does it take the Lord to regenerate somebody? Is that better? Good. Certainly don't want to be used as an example of bad English from some mother to her child. I want to speak as well as I can. But how long does it take? Not very long at all. As a matter of fact, it's instantly. It's not a regeneration is not a process. It is not a step by step thing. And it is all of God and we are completely passive in it. And when I say regeneration, I usually use it in this phraseology, Holy Spirit regeneration. The opposite of Holy Spirit regeneration is gospel regeneration. That means the gospel is instrumental in giving spiritual life to somebody. Now, we do not believe that. We do not believe the Bible teaches it. And I don't believe it just because we don't believe it. I believe it because the Bible doesn't teach it. Now, believe it Not just because our articles of faith say it's not so, I say search the scriptures as the noble Bereans to see if these things are so. I contend that this thief, this one whom the Lord spoke to, was born again even while hanging upon the cross. Some say, no, no, no, he was converted. Well, sure he was. Of course he was. But he was also regenerating. You could say, mighty presumptuous, aren't you, Brother Montgomery? I've got scripture to back me up. Oh, you do? Certainly I do. Let's consider, let's look at this thief. Because he's speaking to him, the Lord says, I say, or verily, truly, verily, I say unto thee, Let's look at this man. Let's look at his case. Turn to Matthew chapter 27, verse somewhere. Where am I? Matthew 27, verse 39. We'll start there. Matthew 27, verse 39. Going to look at the thief. And they that pass by reviled him. wagging their heads, and saying, thou that destroyest the temple and buildest it in three days, save thyself. If thou be the Son of God, come down from the cross. Likewise, also the chief priest mocking him with the scribes and elders said he saved others himself. He cannot save if he be the king of Israel, let him now come down from the cross and we will believe him. Now, pause. Every time I read that, I go, ha. I laugh at these people. They wouldn't believe. They saw miracles. They saw Him raise the dead. If that doesn't take belief, beloved, it's got to be by grace, don't you think? I mean, come down from the cross and we'll believe. I don't believe these people, but let's read on. Verse 42, he saved others, himself he cannot save. If he be the king of Israel, let him now come down from the cross and we will believe him. He trusted in God, let him deliver him now. If he will have him, for he said, I am the son of God. It makes me mad every time I read that. Verse 44, the thieves also. Let me read that again. The thieves, plural, plural. Is there an S on that word? Yes. The thieves also. The thieves also. What did they do? Which were crucified with him, cast the same in his teeth. Basically, in our vernacular, they chewed him up and spit him out. That's what they did. They reviled him. They said bad things about our savior. They were very bad men. And they were saying things about him. They were making fun of him. They were mocking him. How many were doing it? Both of them were doing it. Why are you making this such a big point, Brother Montgomery? Because I have read commentaries that said, well, you know, only one was reviling him, really, all the time. The other one was really not reviling him. It was just one reviling him. I'm sad to tell you this, even John Gill couldn't bring himself to say that both thieves were reviling our Lord. Beloved friends, maybe I'm just so ignorant, but it says in verse 44, the thieves also. You know why it's so hard for some people to come to grips with this? Because there was no gospel preacher to preach the gospel so he could believe and be born again. That's why it's so hard for them to say both of them were reviling him. But beloved friends, God doesn't need us to give life. We were dead in trespasses and in sins. The Lord does not need us. We need the Lord. And if we do not have the Lord, we are dead. Simply put, we are going to hell, if not for the grace of God, and we are dead in sin, were it not for the Holy Spirit giving life to us. I confess that the Holy Spirit gave life to one of those thieves. I believe that he did. All right, let's look at another text found in Mark chapter 15. Mark 15 verse 29. And they that pass by railed on him, wagging their heads and saying, O thou that destroyest the temple and buildest it in three days, save thyself and come down from the cross. Likewise also said the chief priest, mocking it among themselves with the scribes, he saved others, himself he cannot save. Let Christ, the King of Israel, descend now from the cross that we may see and believe. And they, get this, and they that were crucified with him reviled Him, both of them at one time were mocking the Lord Jesus Christ. But God has a way of changing us, doesn't He? The Lord, when He gets finished with us, we're different. And I contend to you, beloved friends, that there is a difference between a regenerate individual and an unregenerate individual. They will have within them the fruit of the Spirit. And they, you will see a change or a difference. Now, beloved friends, we do not need the gospel. We do not need to hear the gospel to be born again. But I'll tell you this much, I am sure glad I have heard the gospel in my life. It is the joy of my life to hear about the Lord Jesus Christ and what he's done for his people. They reviled him, both of them, but something happened to one of those thieves. And let's turn back to our text found in Luke chapter 23, and let's read it again. And one of the malefactors, one of them, which were hanged, railed on him, saying, if thou be the Christ, save thyself and us. But one, the other answering, rebuked him, rebuked that other thief, saying, Dost thou not fear God, seeing thou art in the same condemnation, and we indeed justly, for we receive the due reward of our deeds, but this man hath done nothing amiss. In other words, we're getting what we deserve. You just want to be saved from the cross. You just want to get out of this situation. There is no repentance in that one thief. But there is in the other that he sees himself as a condemned sinner. Now, beloved friends, when I joined the Primitive Baptist Church at the age of 14, I could not give you a PhD dissertation in predestination. I could not give you all the ramifications of sanctification. I don't even think I could spell sanctification when I joined the church. But I knew two things. I knew that I was a sinner, and I knew that Jesus Christ was the Savior. And I confessed Him as my Savior. If I had a Savior, it's Jesus Christ. And if I'm saved, it has to be by grace. Salvation by grace made perfect sense to me because I knew me for what I was. We get, we're getting what we deserve. And a lot of people tell me, you know what I want out of life? I want what's coming to me. I stop my ears and I say, oh no, you don't. All I want is what's coming to me. Believe me, you do not. Do you know what you deserve? Hell and torment? Thank God we're not getting what we deserve. Even this service tonight is far better than we deserve. But imagine paradise, all right? And that man turns to Christ and he said, Lord, did you hear what he called him? Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom. Now he has the sweet privilege of hearing one of the most glorious gospel sermons that has ever been preached. preached by the master preacher while he's bearing his sins at that moment. Think about it. Jesus wasn't too busy to speak to this man. Who do we think we are to be too busy for our Lord? Jesus turns to him and he says, barely, truly, Believe it. Believe what I'm saying. Verily, I say unto thee, comma. I call this the most timely comma in the scriptures. I'm very happy that comma is right there. You see, I know this punctuation and so should you. When you study your Bibles, notice the punctuation. You get a lot out of the scriptures if you do. I say unto thee, comma, comma, today. Now, you know why I accentuate that point? I got another translation of the scriptures. And it had it written like this. Verily, I say unto thee, today, comma. Mm. Right. You see what it's saying? Verily I say unto thee today, thou shalt be with me in paradise. No beloved, Jesus is saying right this very day, you shall be with me in paradise. Of course he's telling him that that day, that's a no brainer. That's what we say in computer field, it's a no brainer. But beloved friends, Jesus Christ is making a point to him. Why would he say, oh, I'm going to tell you something today? Of course he's telling him that that day. But he's saying, today thou shalt be. Today, today, today. That destroys any false teaching of soul sleeping. Now I was in the state of Alabama one time. I shouldn't have named the state, but I won't tell you the city. I was in the state that begins with the letter A, and I was preaching. And I made, I don't know why I said this, I said, I think I was talking about, not this scripture, but along the same lines. And I said, you know, before I die, I would like to talk to somebody who believes in the doctrine of soul sleeping. You know, you get what you ask for? Handshake line. Finish the sermon, handshake, shaking people's hands, They were telling me we enjoyed it. One brother comes to me with a bemused look on his face, and he looks at me, looks straight in my eyes, and he says, shake hands with a real live soul sleeper. I said, you're kidding. We must talk. And we did. And he says, yeah, I believe that doctrine. He was also believed in the false doctrine of non-resurrection. You know, the resurrection is past already. He believed that too. And we had a nice long talk. I didn't get anywhere with him, but I did find out about his belief. But I quoted this to him. And he gave me that, well, I'll think about it, you know. Barely I say unto thee, comma, today shalt thou be with me in paradise. Let's examine that. Today, today, shalt thou be with me in paradise. And verse in Philippians chapter one, I believe. Philippians chapter one and verse. Where do you start in this? My goodness, there's so many good scriptures. Hmm. Well, let's look at, let's look in verse 21. I hate to start here, but I got to the apostle Paul says this for to me to live as Christ and to die is gain. I like that. That's a good attitude of life. By the way, while I'm living, I'm going to live for Jesus Christ. And when I die, I'm going to be with the Lord. That's a good way to look at it. For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. But if I live in the flesh, this is the fruit of my labor. Yet what I shall choose, I want not. For I am in a strait betwixt two, having a desire to depart and be with Christ, which is far better. Nevertheless, to abide in the flesh is more needful to you." What did Paul say? He said, I have a desire to depart. Where are you going, Paul? You're going to Philadelphia? No. You're going to Macedonia? No, no. Where are you going? He says, I'm going to be with Christ. In other words, he believed that when he died, he left his body in the ground, but he is with Christ. Beloved, when we die, God's people immediately are with Christ. Jesus said today, today, today. I've often thought about this thief. I've talked a little bit about Stephen upon this trip. Remember how Stephen was being stoned to death and he saw a vision. He said, I see the son of man standing at the right hand of God. And they gnashed on him with their teeth and they stoned him to death and he died. And I've made this remark about Stephen. If any man ever had dying grace, it's Stephen. A lot of people think dying grace is just a peaceful, a painless death. That's not dying grace. Dying grace is dying in the hope that when you close your eyes in death, you'll open them in paradise and you'll see Jesus Christ. That's dying grace. You could be wracked with cancer or in pain, but beloved friends, if you see the Lord, if you know the Lord is there, that's dying grace. Believe. What Jesus said, barely, I say unto thee, today. Paul said to die is gain. It's better to be with the Lord, but nevertheless, as long as the Lord has use for me, as God's will is, I will remain and wait. But think about the thief. Think about his death. The last thing that Stephen saw in this life was the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God. That was the last thing he saw in this mortal body. What was the first thing he saw in paradise? The Son of Man standing at the right hand of God. Wow. But now think about the thief. The last thing that he saw was a bleeding, suffering Savior. The first thing he saw was a triumphant, risen Savior. He saw the, what a way. Beloved, the Lord is too good to us. The last thing that he heard was, today thou shalt be with me in paradise. I've often wondered if the first thing he heard in glory was, come in, ye blessed of the Father. Don't know. but my imagination runs at times. I'm in a straight betwixt two, having a desire to the part and to be with Christ. Paul believed that when he left this world, he go, he's going to a better place with Jesus and Jesus is there, which is far better. Turn to, um, second Corinthians, Chapter 5. Real quickly. 2 Corinthians chapter 5. 2 Corinthians chapter 5. Today. Today. Today. No soul sleeping. Our bodies remain in the grave. Our souls and our spirit depart and be with the Lord. Today thou shalt be with me. What makes heaven heaven, beloved? Streets of gold? No. Beautiful flowers. What do you think about heaven? What makes heaven heaven? We sing a song in Texas. I love it. I've only heard it sung in Texas. We need to import that, export that song. Where Jesus is will be heaven for me. What makes heaven heaven? Jesus Christ is there. What makes this a little heaven here below? The Lord is here. Jacob said, the Lord was in this place, but sadly, I knew it not. I remember one time after a good service, a brother got up and he said, you know, brethren, the Lord was here and I knew it. I like that. If the Lord's here, I want to know it. But that's what makes this service so wonderful is when the Lord is with us. But that's what makes heaven heaven. Today thou shalt be with me. Now Paul says in 2 Corinthians chapter 5, he says, For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, a house not made with hands, eternal into heavens. Now, I just read that to you and as I was reading it, I said, you know, this really doesn't make any sense what he's saying. But let's look at it very carefully. Paul says, now we know something. What do we know, Paul? Well, here's what we know, that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved. What's he talking about? He's talking about these bodies. This body is called a tabernacle. You children don't know what a tabernacle is, do you? You poor children, poor deprived little children. You need to have, every child needs to go to a tabernacle meeting at least once in their life. Let me say that again. I was raised going to associational meetings in the hot Texas August sun in an open air tabernacle and just being made to sit still in a hot sun. Every child needs to go through that. You haven't been raised unless you go through that. And there are still tabernacle meetings that I will be more than happy to take your children with me, and we will go to them, and they will appreciate Mount Olive, Primitive Baptist Church building a lot more, I promise you. But anyway, a tabernacle. What is a tabernacle, Brother Montgomery? A tabernacle is a temporary structure. It's like a tent. It is a tent, a tent. My children are begging to go camping in a tent. Can't wait to go in a tent. One of them's nodding his head right now. Don't look at him, but he is. Don't embarrass him, but he is. He wants to go camping in a tent. Wants to. We set up the tent. We finally got a tent. We set it up in the backyard. We want to go sleep out in the tent. Go ahead. That's all I can say. It's all yours. You can have it. You can have it. I'm past the 40, and I, you know, tinning, it just doesn't have the appeal to me that it did a long time ago. I want to have a bed. I want to have a roof. I want to have central heating and air conditioning that I can adjust. I want to have hot and cold running water. Beloved, right now, this is a tent. It's temporary. You don't want to live your life in a tent. You want to live it in a house. We've got a building, as he said, we have a building of God and house, that means a permanent dwelling, not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. Today, thou shalt be with me, where? in paradise. Paradise is only used twice in the scriptures, both referring to the eternal abode of God. It is an interesting word. It is an oriental word. It means a well-watered, well-shaded, beautiful pastoral setting. It is like a park. That is what is conveyed with the word paradise. To me, Virginia is a paradise compared to where I come from, because it's green here. It's not where I come from. It's brown. You have trees here. We do not. We have shrubs. You have flowers. We have things that die after a day. It's beautiful up here. But beloved, as beautiful as Virginia is, heaven will make this look like Texas. I kid you not. Heaven, how beautiful heaven must be. That's where your loved ones are. That's where the souls of every one of God's people are. That's where we go when we leave this world. I'm like Job. I would not live always I don't want to live in this world forever. Some people are looking for the fountain of youth. Go ahead and find it. I don't want it. I want to be with the Lord. I'm like Paul. I want to depart and be with Him. That's far better than this. This is a struggle. It's a pilgrimage. We're strangers. We're aliens. We're foreigners. We don't fit in. We're square pegs in round holes in the world. We don't fit in. But beloved, we will up there. Up there is better than this. You think this is good? Wait till you get up there. Beloved friends, what we have up yonder with the Lord is paradise. This is going to end. Believe it. Thou shalt be with me in paradise. Paul, we have a building of God, not made with hands, eternal. Where is it? In the heavens. Verse two, for in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with our house, which is from heaven. We want that. We desire that. We wait for that. Verse three, if so be that being clothed, we shall not be found naked. In other words, we will have a body up there in heaven that destroys those non-resurrectionists to pieces right there. How would you like going through life thinking the resurrection has passed already? You just erased my hope. but Paul spends an entire chapter not being naked, we will have a body. Verse four, for we that are in this tabernacle, in this body, do groan. Do groan, be burdened. Not for that we would be unclothed, but clothed upon that mortality might be swallowed up of life. Mortality. That means dying. Dying. We're dying. We're dying. There's a song that says, the moment we began to live, we all began to die. We're growing older by the minute. Life is going so fast. When I was a teenager, I thought I'll be young forever. I said that yesterday. It seems like it was yesterday. It seems like it was yesterday. I held my first born son in my hands. And today he's 11 years old. Where did it go? I was talking at a church one time and I said, since I turned 40, life has gone into overdrive. And the lady came up to me and said, wait till you turn 80, it goes into double overdrive. And I said, it can't go by any faster than now. She says, it does. It goes by so fast. But I would not live all the way because I would have be like that thief. Today shalt thou be with me in paradise." That thief is there with Jesus Christ. I want to be with him. The dying thief rejoiced to see that fountain in his day. I hope that blood was shed for me and washed my sins away. I've got good news for you. That blood was shed for you and it washed your sins away. And because of that, you will be with Him in paradise. Beloved, do you believe that Jesus Christ washed our sins away? Yes, He did. I tell you that He did. without the aid of anyone. No one could see him. Remember the three hours of darkness. I believe it was pitch black, dark. No one could see him. He said, I have trodden the winepress alone. Not one of us could say, well, we saw the Lord. We helped him. No, it was black. He was alone. He bore our sins and he bore them away completely, finally away. Now we have a hope. No, I don't want to live always. Too many heartbreaks. Too many goodbyes. Too many times of distress. Too much uncertainty. And worst of all, too much of sin. Not yours, but mine. I've seen me commit sin after sin, knowing better knowing better, wanting to serve God and failing it miserably, even preaching to God's people and teaching them how they should live and find myself breaking the commandments themselves. Brothers and sisters, I'm not bragging and I'm not saying this so you'll feel sorry for me. I hate the sins that make thee mourn. I hate myself many times. It can't be by my works. I'm too black. There's nothing in me that could merit esteem. It's got to be by grace. And I hear the forgiving Savior. Today shalt thou be with me in paradise. I hear it so many times. I forgive you. I do not charge you. But go and sin no more. Do better. What love is this, beloved? Redeeming love has been my theme. How many of you have done well enough to deserve heaven of your own words? Did that thief deserve it? How about the woman that was such a sinner that she couldn't even look upon him, but bowed at his feet and washed them with her tears and dried them with her hair. Have you ever been there? I've been there plenty of times. But Paul says mortality, that's dying, might be swallowed up. That means completely overcome by life. The word life there is the Greek word Zoe, Z-O-E, Zoe. A lot of people today are naming their little girls Zoe. You ever notice that? They are in San Antonio. Zoe, you used to think that was a funny word, Zoe. Why would you want to name your little girl Zoe? But it's a neat word, it's a Greek word. It means, here's what it means. The absolute fullness of life. That means life at its zenith, as good as life can be enjoyed. That's Zoe, that's life. And your mortality will be swallowed up in it, in eternal, full, abounding, rich life. That's paradise. That's where the Lord is. Lord willing, that's where we're going. Finally, in 1 John chapter 2, I believe. No, not chapter 2, chapter 3. You know where I'm going. Behold, that means stop, look, listen. I'm about to tell you something mighty important. Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us. that we should be called the sons of God. Therefore the world knoweth us not because it knew him not. That verse is important because it sets the stage for the whole chapter, John chapter three. It's a good chapter to study, by the way, to go verse by verse. Very good, very good chapter. There's two themes in John chapter three. Number one, we are the children of God by virtue of God's love. That's the great theme of John chapter three. We are the children of God by virtue of God's love. Number two, we are despised and we're not at home in this world. Stop trying to fit into the world, friends. You're not going to. Get along, yes. Make a living, yes. Be friendly, yes. But you're not going to be at home here. I've got news for you. Stop trying. Look ahead. Look ahead. Elder Goins preaches a good sermon called Christian Look Up. I love that sermon because that's where home is. Look up. Don't look down. Don't look straight ahead, but look up. That's where home. That's where we're going. We're going home. We're going home. I tell the children we're going home tomorrow. I really wish we are. Now we're going to Texas, but we're not going home. Heaven is home. I'm but a stranger here, heaven is my home. Paul, he says, beloved now, now are we the sons of God. I love that. My favorite word in that text is now, beloved now, right now, are we the sons of God? And it does not yet appear what we shall be, but we know that when he shall appear, we shall be like him for we shall see him as he is. Now here is something that I'll give you completely free. I couldn't sell it if I tried, but this is totally free. This is called Montgomery's Bible Tongue Twister. Okay? I have these little things that help me understand the Bible, and I give them away free. This is one of them. Montgomery's Bible Tongue Twister. Are you ready? The body will have perfect total perception because it will be perfect. And that perfection is perpetual in paradise. Don't ask me to say it again, but there's four words. When I think of heaven, I think of four words that begin with the letter P first of all, total perception. John just said, we shall see him as he is. We don't see Jesus as he is right now. But what we do see is good. But what we will see him then is better. That's total perception. He says we will know even as we are known. Perception, total perfection. We're not perfect right now. We're still in a body of death, but someday, beloved, we'll be in a perfect body that is in total harmony with the Lord. All right, we have perception, perfection. Third word, perpetual. We'll be in a perfect body that is perceptive perpetually. That means it will never end. The sad thing about these meetings is what? It's going to end. We'll have to say goodbye. And perhaps this congregation, as it is right now, will never be, will never meet together again. This exact same congregation. We don't know. Some of us could pass away. The Lord might come back. All right. Perpetual. Where? Fourth word. paradise or is it all gonna be beloved in paradise how is all this because he loves us what manner of love as he said the father hath bestowed upon us that we should be called the sons of God he says in every man that hath this hope in him purified himself even as he is pure beloved what what love Jesus has that he could even in bearing sins and in agony would look upon a thief, a man that is caught in the act, a man that at once reviled him and cast him in his teeth and look at him in love and say, I say unto thee, today shalt thou be with me in paradise. If there's hope for the thief, there's hope for me. He is the friend of sinners. How I love him so. I want to serve him better. May God bless you is my prayer.