Well, grace, mercy, and peace be unto you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, both to you here physically and even to those of you who are here with us in spirit this Lord's Day through the live feed. It's a tremendous privilege to be up here in this pulpit as I've been tasked by God himself to prepare us for the partaking. of the Lord's Supper. And I hope that as we talked about last Lord's Day evening, if you tuned in with us or were here, that you've been able to spend a little bit of time this week preparing your soul for this great and glorious occasion. Coming to the table of Christ to eat from the bread of life and to drink of the cup of blessing by faith for the refreshment of your soul, people of God. Friends, coming together as the body of Christ to receive these signs and seals of our salvation which are presented before you even this day, it's a vital part of our sanctification in Christ, your growth in holiness. If this year we are to further mortify our sinful desires and be transformed more into Christ's glorious image, then let us hungrily and drink abundantly from these means of grace which he has designed to infuse, to impart grace unto our famished and weary hearts. Are you in need these days to be cleansed of your sins, strengthened in faith and comfort by Christ in the midst of your afflictions? Then look no further. For today, Christ, the gracious host, invites all of you who have believed upon Him savingly to dine with Him, where He freely dispenses these graces to repentant and justified sinners. But because our hearts are often so dull, Are they not so prone to just go through the motions when it comes to looking upon Christ's beautiful and free salvation that He's accomplished for us as His people? God graciously has given us His Word to stir us up, to stir our hearts up, to raise our affections for Christ and to make us ready to feed upon Him and all His sweet benefits that He has purchased for us. And so let us pray earnestly that God would take us once again to Calvary's cross. through the reading and through the preaching of God's Holy Word, that each one of us would be touched, that we would be truly affected by the love that the Lord Jesus exhibits for sinners, even as He hanged their dying, making and obtaining eternal redemption. Hebrews 9 verse 12. Let's pray together to this end. O gracious Heavenly Father, we come as beggars to you, asking that you would feed us with your grace this morning from your Word. Cause us to go to Calvary's cross to see your Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, there dying and paying the penalty and the price and accomplishing our salvation. O God, we pray that you would help us to see our sinfulness, our guiltiness, as we have sinned against you, and may we see Christ as a great Savior for our sins. And so, Lord, we pray that you would teach us, O Lord, of His grace and His love for sinners, and that we might run to Him, that we might flock to Him, that we would be nourished, fed, and strengthened by the grace that He gives to us, even in this sacrament which He has instituted for our good and for your good. And so, Lord, we pray that you would be with me even as I preach. We pray that you would cause me to decrease in Christ, to increase, and that you would make this word effectual in each of our hearts this morning as we prepare to come to this holy table. We pray this in Christ's name, for his sake. Amen. Well, brothers and sisters, I would invite each of you to take up your copy of God's Word and turn with me to the gospel according to Luke. The Gospel according to Luke, specifically chapter 23. Our sermon text that we'll be using this morning to prepare us for the sacrament comes from Luke chapter 23, verses 39 through 43. And if you're using the Pew Bibles, you can find that on page 935, 935. Last time we communed together around this table, we looked at the first of Christ's sayings on the cross, where he cried out in Luke 23, verse 34, And there we saw clearly that the Lord Jesus Christ showed himself to be God's prophesied intercessor, the people of God's Messiah, because in His atoning death as a substitute for sinners, He was found making intercession for the transgressors in direct fulfillment of Isaiah 53 verse 12. When the Lord Jesus was in serious agony of body, soul, and mind, He did not utter a word reviling those who were reviling Him, but instead, He was praying fervently for His killers, that they would each take hold of the forgiveness found in His shed blood, the only way a sinful man can be justified before Almighty God. But not only were we dumbfounded by Christ's selfless and sacrificial intercessory prayer for even the worst of His enemies, but we also got a window, did we not, into the disposition of our Savior's heart, to forgive. How inclined, how ready, how quick he was to extend this free offer of forgiveness to all of those there that night. On that night of all nights, he was even shedding tears for those who were shedding his blood. Oh, what a pitying, what a merciful Redeemer God has provided for the most vile of sinners in the person of Christ. When in precatory prayers calling for God's swift vengeance upon His adversaries, when they would have been most appropriate, this suffering and dying Savior has within His heart room to pardon perishing souls. For like God, being God, very God Himself, He is also not willing that any should perish in their sins. but that all would come to repentance and so be spared from eternal damnation." Hallelujah, then. Praise the Lord for Christ's eternal and unchanging desire to always forgive sinners who come to Him in this life, or else we would all be doomed and left to die, to rot in our sins. And oh, it is such a sweet thing, then, to find those words on Christ's tongue in Luke 23. Father, forgive them. For they do not know what they do as He dies in our place, because the Father has been pleased to answer His prayer in bringing you to Himself, if you are His through faith. But this morning we move from the first saying of Christ on the cross to the second, which falls within verses 39 through 43. If the first word was Christ's word of forgiveness, as we called it, then truly these next words of His are words of grace that He utters to a very unlikely, a very unsurprising, or a surprising person. And of all the four Gospels in our Bibles, only Luke, once again, provides us with this wonderful account where we get to see ever so clearly the dying Christ's unparalleled love for dying sinners when they, by divine grace, call out to Him for mercy. So what account is this, you might ask? Well, it's Christ's exchange with one of the thieves on the cross. Probably a story that you're very familiar with. The thief who found real life in King Jesus just hours before he breathed his last breath on earth. And friends, this account is not just given for us to be wowed at, though it certainly is nothing short of that astounding. But Luke, by the Spirit of God, has recorded it for us that we would all come take hold of Jesus just as this penitent robber did. And because of that, because he flocked to Christ for salvation, Christ, the pardoning Redeemer, flung open the gates of paradise for him that very day, and he did surely enter in with the Lord Jesus Christ immediately at his death. And so the Holy Spirit is saying to each of us this morning, paradise, heavenly glory, eternal life shall be open to all those who come to the Lord Jesus in like faith as the dying thief did. That it is never too late while you still draw breath to repent and to turn to Christ for the saving of your souls. But from this text, I must also say before we read it, there be any unbelievers. Here, listening right now, do not be so foolish to think that you can put off your repentance till you are on your deathbed and just continue to live in your sin until then. Because friend, let me be real frank with you, you are not even guaranteed to have a deathbed. For God may justly require your life at any time. He chooses. Many have died suddenly and without any signs, and so do not think that this text is an excuse to postpone your desperate need to repent and trust upon the Lord Jesus Christ. That's why one Puritan wisely commented on this text, saying, So why should you not wait, saying, one day I'll repent as I'm dying, nearing the end of my life? Friend, because your sinful and wicked heart will grow so hardened toward the gospel throughout your whole life that you would rather die, perish, and go to hell than bow the knee to Christ at that moment. Brothers and sisters, God gives grace for today. Right now is the day of salvation, not tomorrow or any day in the future. Therefore, do not harden your hearts, the scriptures say, because none of us are guaranteed tomorrow. So I'm pleading with you, begging you even to repent today, be reconciled unto God through Christ before it's too late and you die and you open your eyes in hell. for the sinful rebellion of yours against Christ. So having made that clear at the outset, let's now read this portion of Luke's gospel, chapter 23, verses 39 through 43, that we all might imitate the faith of this penitent robber so that Christ the Redeemer might warm our hearts of the hope of paradise and pour out on us His grace, which He showers on us. From there, as we draw near to his sacramental body and blood held out to us in this holy table. I'm going to pick up where we left off last time, where we read Luke chapter 23 together in the second half of verse 34, and I'll read all the way to the end of verse 43. Congregation, hear now the words of the living God, beginning in the second half of verse 34. And they divided his garments and cast lots. And the people stood looking on, but even the rulers with them sneered, saying, he saved others. Let him save himself if he is the Christ, the chosen of God. The soldiers also mocked him, coming and offering him sour wine and saying, if you are the king of the Jews, save yourself. And an inscription also was written over him in letters of Greek, Latin, and Hebrew. This is the king of the Jews. Then one of the criminals who were hanged blasphemed him, saying, If you are the Christ, save yourself and us. But the other, answering, rebuked him, saying, Do you not even fear God, seeing you are under the same condemnation? And we indeed justly, for we receive the due reward of our deeds. But this man has done nothing wrong. Then he said to Jesus, Lord, remember me when you come into your kingdom. And Jesus said to him, assuredly, I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise. Amen. And thus reads the sacred, pure, and preserved word of God. And may he write these words on each of our hearts and our minds as we prepare to commune with the crucified yet risen Christ. To understand the sweetness, the wonderful grace penned in this beautiful exchange between this penitent robber and the pardoning Redeemer, as I've entitled my sermon, as they both hang on their own crosses, slowly dying, we must first understand a little bit about the robber, who he was, what he did, his condition, which will make what he does here in this text, by grace, all the more glorious to our eyes. In doing this, we'll also learn something about ourselves and see that our estate before Christ is not much different than His. Oftentimes in our minds, which are still affected by the noetic effects of sin, we have trouble identifying where we fit into the stories of the Bible, don't we? We want to make ourselves David when he defeats Goliath, when in actuality we are just the terrified Israelites scared to death, crying in the corner, as Matt Chandler once commented in a sermon he preached. Or what about this one? Well, Jesus dined and he hung out with sinners, so that makes it okay for me to hang out with bad people. But friend, you and I are not Jesus. Wrong person. We are the sinners who Christ came to save, to dine with, to set us free from our bondage to sin. And so the same is true here. Before we can see Christ splendidly and as glorious as He is in all His beauty, we must humbly admit that our condition apart from Him is much like this suffering and condemned robber. Spiritually, you will see a spitting image of yourself in these words, and that, my friend, is the point of this account. And seeing our wretched and our hopeless status, Christ's salvation will be more desirable and sweeter to you. It will be the springboard that sends you to Christ for healing. Until sin be bitter, Christ will not be sweet, Thomas Watson. once wrote, until we are made aware of our own filthiness and disgusted by the stink of our countless sins, Christ's grace and salvation will never mean anything to you. And so it is only fitting that we take time to study this dying and guilty thief, which will allow us to peer into our own hearts. It will open it up that we might even this day be repentant as this man was to the benefit of his soul. We're going to note three things from him this morning before we take in the grace upon Christ's lips when he declares to him and to all who repent unto life, assuredly I say to you today, you will be with me in paradise." First, I want you to note the thief's identity. The thief's identity. And when I say his identity, I mean prior to Christ. His natural identity apart from grace. Luke begins this short narrative by referring to both of the men to Christ's left and to his right as criminals. Other translations, robbers, malefactors, those who have committed serious crimes, evil. So much so that Rome has sentenced them to die the most cruel kind of death for their deeds. Both the man blaspheming and hurling insults at Christ and the one who rebukes him are in the same position. There is no difference between them. In fact, it is likely that they both were partners in the same crime, caught in the same act, not just stealing, but inciting revolt and rebellion against Rome, because Rome didn't crucify you just for stealing. You had to do something more than just that. Not that stealing isn't wicked, but you wouldn't crucify someone who stole something. They were both lawbreakers, both equally wicked and deserving of death. Thus, it was not because one criminal was more noble than the other. One was shown grace, the other was hardened in his sin. Matthew and Mark actually seem to say that both of these crucified rebels joined in with the majority of the crowd, the rulers, the elders, and the chief priests, in their mocking of Christ. Matthew 27, verse 44, and Mark 15, verse 32. One of them clearly did, per verse 39, but even if the other one did not audibly, he was in at least agreement with them, until he was moved to repentance through the conviction of his sin. All that is to say is the man who would soon come to Christ for salvation was inherently, naturally, and notoriously wicked. A descendant of fallen Adam, just like his fellow criminal, just like you and I. We have to see this, brothers and sisters. While certainly in some cases he defers from you and me as to his particular crime of sedition, friend, does he not accurately portray your condition? An Adam before God, the divine lawgiver? Have we not all robbed God? of the glory that is due His name, rebelling against Him with our countless sins, by breaking His law, even from our youth. We come out of the womb this way, bent to transgress against our Creator. Behold, I was shapen, brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me." Psalm 51, verse 5. Under God's perfectly holy and righteous law, which all men know in their hearts and is most clearly shown in God's written word, you and I, all human beings, stand condemned, dead men walking, corrupt in our being, and headed for eternal death. over our heads hang a sign written by God whom we have gravely offended. Cursed sinner, because for as many as are the works of the law are under a curse, for it is written, cursed is everyone who does not continue in all the things which are written in the book of the law to do them." Galatians 3 verse 10. Holy Spirit has included this portion of Scripture, this account of the two criminals on the cross, to remind all men and women, boys and girls, that they spiritually represent us before the Holy God. Their identity is our identity, apart from Christ. So long as we remain separated from Christ, the Redeemer, that we're a not-for-divine-grace Christian, this is you. This is me, enemies worthy of death, of the death sentence, because of our crimes against heaven, against the Lord, who demands perfect love, perfect submission, perfect obedience to Him in all things. And the Bible says none of us have given Him that. We have all fallen infinitely and woefully short. Romans 3, 23. All of us in Adam are thus robbers of God, haters of Christ, and completely dead with no hope of escape through our own efforts, which are but dung in the Father's eyes. Philippians 3, verse 8. So then, friend, put your own self in their place, because as A.W. Pink said in commenting on this passage, until our desperate condition is realized, we will never discover our need for a divine savior. It is not until we are brought to our total corruption and unsoundness that we shall hasten to the great physician. And it is not until we find in this dying thief a portrayal of ourselves that we shall join him in saying, Lord, remember me. End quote. Oh, how good it is then to see our condition, our former identity as one of hopelessness, utter hopelessness. Then you will fly to the ever flowing fountain of God's free grace in Christ. That's where you will fly. And you will call out for grace and say as the tax collector beating his breast, God be merciful to me, a sinner. Luke 18 verse 13. When you realize you have nothing in you, nothing you could ever do to save yourself, then you will fly there to the cross. You'll be able to say like Augustus to Platy who wrote these glorious words, nothing in my hand I bring. simply to the cross i cling naked come to thee for dress helpless look to thee for grace foul i to the fountain fly wash me savior or i die oh people of god this is how we must come to the lord's table with this humble attitude remembering our former identity of bondage to sin being married to the law which is not merciful Even confessing the filthiness of our present and dwelling sins, even as we all have, which we still commit. But as we get a good look at our sinfulness and we seek for mercy, then Christ will be able to wash us clean and make us whole again by His grace. Don't let Satan bar you from this table. Then as he calls you a sinner, agree with him. Say, good, good thing I am because that means I can come to Christ to be nourished by Him. because he died for sinners even as one as vile as I. David Brainerd, who is one of Jonathan Edwards' heroes of the faith, an American missionary who dedicated his life to preaching to the Native American tribes, once wrote in his diary that he was required to keep, I fear God never showed mercy to one as vile as I. End quote. That's how we are to view our sin. We're too quick to call out the sins in the lives of others when we need to be more broken and more sickened and disgusted by our own sins. So let this one dying thief be an example to you, which leads us to our next point. Not only do we see the thief's identity, but we also see the thief's guiltiness. The thief's guiltiness. One thief was blind and hardened to his identity, but the other saw it clearly and openly confesses and acknowledges his guiltiness because of it. Look at verses 40-41 where Luke records what he says in response to the other criminal. But the other answering rebuked him, saying, Do you not even fear God, seeing you are under the same condemnation? And we indeed justly, for we receive the due reward of our deeds. But this man has done nothing wrong. Here, by the powerful and regenerating, illuminating grace of the Holy Spirit, the dying thief recognizes and verbally expresses to his fellow condemned crook that they are both justly receiving what they deserve, guilty as charged. He even scolds him for the lack of fear of God in his heart. that rather than having his conscience crushed as it should have been in contemplating his own condemnation which would soon kill him, instead he is gritting his teeth and mocking the innocent and harmless Christ. This is a remarkable and absolutely astounding transformation that has taken place in this sinner's heart. It was the fear of God that shattered him, that broke him. For the Lord used his condemnation and his slowly painful death to awaken him to the reality that God would be and already was his and the other thief's judge. that very soon they both were going to meet their maker. And that caused him to tremble with a holy fear before God because he knew at that moment he was caught dead in the water. But oh, how mercifully gracious it was of God to send the fear of himself to his conscience, his wrath, his justice, because through it the man readily and sincerely confesses his guiltiness, passing sentence upon himself, and he then is granted the eyes of faith to look upon one who had done no wrong, the rejected, dying, and suffering Christ. Look at what this penitent thief says at the end of verse 41. But this man has done nothing wrong. That is in the original. He has done nothing amiss. Nothing that is out of place in his life. The perfect human, not deserving this condemnation as they were. But you might ask, how in the world did he come to this conclusion? Yes, we understand it was the Spirit of God who made this known to him, but through what means? Well, as I said to you before, beholding Christ on the Roman cross is a declaring of the gospel from start to finish in and of itself. Jesus Christ, brothers and sisters, is the gospel. And if His death and resurrection upon the cursed cross was the act which would accomplish our redemption, our salvation, then surely it is the gospel preached itself in human form. Because by his work, all of it, sinners who embrace him are completely justified. Let me show you this. This man heard Christ's fervent plea for his father to forgive his enemies who were killing him. Verse 34. He saw that the inscription which Pilate had written above Christ's head King of the Jews, verse 38. He saw that crown of thorns that was pressed deep into the head of Christ, which he wore, which further testified to him of Christ's kingship. He was also a Jew himself, thus he grew up with the Old Testament, and so through all that he took in from Christ, in the way he suffered, to the way he spoke on trial. Maybe he had heard Christ preaching himself, I cannot know for sure, but all that he took in, that preached to him the spotless, the sinful, excuse me, the sinless perfection of Christ. And so here he rightly concluded, this man has done nothing wrong. Judas declared it. Though remorsefully and not repentantly, he said, I have betrayed innocent blood. Matthew 27 verse 4, Pilate and his wife say the same thing. Pilate says, I have found no fault in this man. And his wife says, have nothing to do with this just man. Luke 23 verse 4 and Matthew 27 verse 19. And finally, even a dying thief savingly confesses and believes it here. Brothers and sisters, let me just say this to you as a way of application. It is not enough to admit that Christ is sinless, the perfect man, but you must also believe it fully in your heart, and you must run to Him if you wish to be saved, or else His sinlessness, His moral righteousness, His perfect obedience to God's law will be of no use to you, and you will perish as Judas did without it. I fear for many people today, for they know the truth. They were taught it in Sunday school. They could even say it, put it on their tongues, could even quote you the scriptures to support it, but they have never come to put it on Christ's robes for themselves. You must put them on in faith as even this thief did, exchanging his sinful attire, his filthy robes, his guiltiness for the unspotted kingly robe of the Lord Jesus Christ. which he clearly did from Christ's response to him today. You will be with me in paradise. So then, my friends, do not come to this table if you do not have the right attire. In fact, you are strictly forbidden to come eat and drink from Christ's table if you are not covered from head to toe in Christ's perfectly white robe, because it is a table for his friends who have been made so by grace through faith. and not those who reject Him and His salvation. But the only way you will betake yourself to Christ, to take hold of His pure garments, is when you see, as this thief did, that his sins had made him guilty, infinitely so. Oh, how much better it is to admit your guilt, the condemnation that you have earned because of your sins, and take it all to Christ, who can erase it, cancel, and set you free from them, than to live as though you are perfectly fine. completely ignoring your guiltiness, where you will send yourself straight to hell. Which would you rather have? Christ handle your guiltiness, forever removing your condemnation, which you deserve, or you bear it, paying the price of your soul, infinite, eternal, and conscious death in hell, along with the devil, his demons, and all the rest of the wicked. Just as it was not too late in this thief's dying moments, neither is it for you. But you must confess with your mouth and heart your guiltiness before the judge and come to the only one who can bear your sins upon his shoulder and can grant you perfect life in the Lord Jesus Christ. My friends, it's the only one who can do that. He who knew no sin, God made him to be sin. Meaning the father imputed, credited all the sins of his people to Christ, all so that sinners like you and me would become the righteousness of God through faith in him. 2 Corinthians 5, 21. Congregation, that's the gospel. in a nutshell, and oh, let that be on your minds as you come to this table. That though you were guilty, as guilty as could be, Christ nevertheless took your guiltiness upon himself, that you would be set free and given entrance into paradise. celebrating that mind-blowing truth which the sacramental body and blood of Christ proclaimed to you this day for your joy and for your comfort. There's one last thing I want to point out to you from this text. So far we've examined the thief's identity, we've seen his guiltiness as he expresses it, but finally we need to see in greater detail this thief's faith. The thief's faith. Obviously, we have already seen this in his repentance, because as you know, brothers and sisters, repentance and faith are always to be seen together. They are two sides of the same coin. You cannot have one without the other. Both are graces that come to us sinners through the regenerating power of the Holy Spirit. Both need to be granted by Christ. Ephesians 2, 8-9, 2 Timothy 2, verse 25. But we see this penitent thief's faith most evidently in his fervent plea, which he makes unto Christ in verse 42, Matthew Henry calls this the prayer of a dying sinner to a dying Savior. And that is because in it he is begging Christ, as would a lowly beggar, to have mercy upon his soul, that as he hangs there in torment, unable to move even his arms and his legs, he casts himself, as it were, into Christ's care, entreating him to look fondly upon his miserable condition and save him. Now, you might say, all of this is conveying in but a few words. Lord, remember me when you come into your kingdom, his saving faith in Christ. How does all that show his faith? Well, it does, because his cry for the Lord to remember him is a loaded theological word, which is equivalent to him saying this, Lord, save me, pardon me, bless me, deliver me. He's not merely saying, think a thought about me. but saying, touch me, visit me with your saving grace and let me be numbered among your people in your kingdom. Maybe you're still unconvinced. Psalm 106, verses 4 through 5. This is where the psalmist calls upon God to remember him. Listen to what he says. Remember me, O Lord, with the favor that you bear unto your people. O, visit me with your salvation, that I may see the good of your chosen, that I may rejoice in the gladness of your nation, that I may glory with your inheritance. Matthew Henry again says this prayer of the thief for Christ to remember him is like Joseph who asked the butler to remember him so that he could get himself out of, so that he could leave that dungeon and go back into serving Pharaoh's household. But that butler forgot. But Christ does not forget when sinners cry out to him to be remembered. Oh, with what readiness, what compassion, how swiftly Christ answers this decaying sinner and ministers, reassures him that that very day he would be taking him with him to paradise. Friends, from this we are to learn that faith is the key that unlocks and opens paradise, eternal glory, and everlasting life to us. We should also note that Christ gives even a greater and a fuller answer than what the thief asked for. Not only on the last day would Christ come to save him and take him to heavenly glory, but before the close of the day, Christ assures him as strong as he could with these words, assuredly, Or amen, not all men, all women, that has nothing to do with what this means, as you've probably seen the craziness. Let it be so, truly, amen, I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise. This is the real and sure gospel hope that he needed to hear, as death was just upon the horizon for this man, and Christ gave it to him. Oh, the burden that was lifted off this penitent thief's shoulder. Oh, the joy, the consolation, which must have flooded his heart upon hearing these words. Though he was in excruciating pain, physically, he died that day in perfect peace, knowing that soon he would be in the company of Christ the very instant he breathed his last upon earth. For the believer, the one who expresses this kind of faith in Christ, leaning wholly upon Him, clinging to His work alone, true saving faith, the very moment we take our last breath on earth and death is when we will take our first breath in heaven. And not only is that a most wonderful thought, as it ought to be to us, but what is even greater than that is the truth that Christ declares to this man. Notice it, you will be with me in paradise. Christ himself, all of him, where faith becomes pure sight, is the glory, the treasure of heaven, even as Samuel Rutherford would often say, you, oh Christ, are all the heaven I want. John Brown of Haddington said, Christ sweetens heaven and makes it all the more glorious. So then, is He not the draw, the greatest prize of heaven for you, brothers and sisters? To be with Christ, your Redeemer in paradise where no one and nothing can ever take you away from Him for all eternity, fully enjoying Him, the King in His beauty. Oh brothers and sisters, it was this man's faith, a divine gift from God himself that caused him to lay hold of Christ the king. Think about this. It caused him to see that indeed Christ was a king and he had a kingdom, one that could only be seen by faith because at that moment Christ looked like he was being defeated by the principalities and powers of darkness, but this was his intended path for victory, which would forever crush the head of the serpent, and the act that would bring rebel sinners home with him to paradise. Satan could not take this poor thieving wretch of a man down to hell with him. Why? Because of faith. the faith of Christ that he grants to sinners, even the worst of sinners. Faith is able to overcome even death and is the channel, the ship that brings guilty sinners home to heaven with Christ as her captain. Brothers and sisters, I ask you this day, do you have this faith in King Jesus? this saving faith that is able to transport you from this life to the glories of the next. If not, I pray that as you watch the sacrament, as you've heard all that has been preached, as you see the breaking of Christ's body and the holding up of the cup of his blood sacramentally, that you would see your sin for what it is and where that will take you. If you leave it unconfessed, so that you will then throw yourself and open your soul to the Lord Jesus Christ, who is the only one qualified and able to save you and to grant you everlasting life. And for those of you who have entrusted your soul to this Christ, the Redeemer, will you then by faith be fully assured that paradise is yours through the faith that God has granted you to believe, though you deserve none of it, as we are as this robber before God? your partaking of Christ's consecrated elements by faith, let it warm your heart today, that you, like this penitent thief at your death, which will come for all of us, that you are headed for paradise, predestined for it, because you are at peace with God through Jesus Christ. May we all come to this great banquet then, which shows forth the death of Christ so beautifully, so amiably in the way we've seen this morning, knowing our former identity apart from grace, acknowledging our guiltiness apart from Christ's work on our behalf and coming with faith in the Lord Jesus, begging him to give us but a taste of the glory, which is ours to come in him. Amen. Let us pray. Gracious Heavenly Father, we do confess our hopelessness apart from the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ that our estate, our condition, our identity is the same as both of these thieves who were at your son's right and left hand while you Christ died on the cross for our sins. And so Lord, we have seen how wretched, how horrible our situation is because of the sins we have committed against you that we are fallen in Adam. We are depraved from head to toe. And oh Lord, we have rebelled against you even from our youth, but Lord, we thank you for such an amazing Christ who says to us in these words, today I will be with you. You will be with me in paradise because of your faith that you have expressed in me. And Lord, we know that faith is a gift. It is not something that we conjure up in and of ourselves, but it is a work of your spirit. And so Lord, we pray. that the what we see from this thief here would be us this morning as we come to be ministered to be fed by your grace from your sacrament which you have given to us to assure us that paradise is ours because of our union with the lord jesus christ and in his death and so lord we pray that you would Help us to remember this, to come to you in this way, for this is the way that you are well pleased with. And so, Lord, we pray that this would be so. Grant it to us. In Christ's name we pray. Amen.