Beloved congregation in the Lord Jesus Christ, if anything tells us that salvation is completely the grace of God in Jesus Christ, through that God wrought faith, it's this account that we have here of Jesus redeeming one of the criminals. It's mysterious when you think about it, why one and not the other, when both of them would have heard the things that Jesus had been saying, and one believes and one does not. Why is that? Because salvation is of the Lord. The enlightening of the mind, the opening of the understanding, the creating of faith, the believing on the only Savior, is all a work of the Holy Spirit sovereignly in the heart of those that were given to Christ from before the foundation of the world. Scripture from Genesis to Revelation speak the truth of salvation solely by the work of God. We are redeemed by God from the wrath of God. Find this right from the garden, where Adam and Eve run after they sin, and cover themselves with fig leaves, and God comes, pursues them, seeks them out, and then covers them with animal skins. Which clearly is a foreshadow of the righteousness of Jesus Christ. The righteous robes by which we must be covered. But notice that you must be covered by God. You cannot cover yourselves. There is nothing that you can do to cover yourself in the sight of God. You cannot cleanse yourself from your sins. You must be cleansed by God. And the only agent is the work of Christ, the blood of Jesus Christ. You remember in Genesis 22, it's exactly what the Lord told Abraham to go up to Mount Moriah and to sacrifice to Him. and it was the son that he was to sacrifice. His only son. It makes it clear that it wasn't to be Ishmael, it was to be Isaac. The son in whom you love, offer him to me as a sacrifice. And as Isaac said, here is the wood, here is the fire, but where is the offering for the sacrifice? And as Abraham said, God will provide for himself a lamb for the sacrifice. And that lamb, as Isaac, the substitution, notice, was put on the altar, was taken off of the altar, and a ram caught in the thickets was in his place, a substitution. We find the substitutionary atonement from the garden, even through weaving throughout all of Scripture, that God substitutes in the place of the lawbreaker, those that He has set His love upon. Covering Adam and Eve, something must die for them to be covered. Same thing with the ram caught in the thicket. Same thing with all the types and the shadows and the sacrifices that went on throughout all the Levitical system. There must be death. There must be the shedding of blood. There is no remission apart from bloodshed. But then it's clear, isn't it? In the Levitical law, and then the writer of the Hebrews picks that up, it's not the blood of bulls and goats that could take away sin. had to be one of the human nature, one like us in all things except for sin. And we know that that is the Lord Jesus Christ, who is truly God and truly man in one person, sent into this world to glorify His Father in redeeming a multitude, which no man can number from all the tribes, tongues, and nations of the world, to be His own. to cleanse them, to cause them to become spotless with His white robes, and to bring them into union with Him, and as He sets His love upon them and loves them to the uttermost, He drinks the dregs to the bitter end in their place on their behalf. There is a Greek word, it's called huper, There's been some theologians that thought that that was one of the most important words in the Greek vocabulary. I'm not sure about that. It's an important word. I'm not sure if it's the most important word, but it's a word that means on behalf of, in place of. Christ died in our place. He died for us who pair. He died in our place, condemned He stood. That we might then become the righteousness of God in Him. Christ giving Himself. for His people. So all the types and shadows, they are looking forward to the reality in Jesus Christ. When He comes and He lays down His life, that does away with, it abolishes all the sacrifices. All of the things of the Old Covenant, which the Jews were continually doing, He abrogates that. He abolishes that by His one perfect sacrifice, once for all time, to redeem His people from their sin. He's not re-sacrificed again and again, as Roman Catholicism teaches. He was sacrificed, as the writer of the Hebrews says, once for all time. It's clear. It's not a continual sacrifice. It was the one-time event on behalf of his people. So that, as Paul writes, 2 Corinthians 5, he who knew no sin became sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in him. Now you have to pause for a moment and ask that question. How did Christ become sin? If he became sin, then how could he redeem sinners if he became a sinner himself? Well, that's not what the wording means. He became sin for us by imputation. You have three imputations that are spoken of in Scripture. Adam's fall and the consequence of that imputed to all of his posterity, all of mankind, Christ only accepted. Second imputation would be our sins to Christ. And the third would be Christ's righteousness to us, so that we would be covered in the righteousness of Christ. So on the cross, Christ is reckoned as if he had violated all the commandments of God, which his people violated, and all the personal sins of every one of his sheep. He was treated on the cross as if he had been the arch-violator of the commandments of God. That's how he became sinned, by imputation. Reckoned. Not infused. Imputed. Treated. Reckoned. Accounted. As if a sinner. But in himself, righteous, holy, spotless Lamb. Loving his Father, even to the depths of, my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? Loving his Father to the depths, even in that darkness. Why is that? Because he had to love his father with all of his heart, soul, mind, and strength. This is the commandment of the law, if we were to be redeemed. So even in the midst of the torment of pain of the wrath of God poured out upon him in our place, he's loving his father with all of his heart, soul, mind, and strength, and has no personal sin. Paul then goes on and he speaks of Christ becoming a curse. Galatians 3.13. He became a curse for us on the cross. He became one who was under the wrath and the curse of God in our place. He was under the curse. The curse is found in Deuteronomy 27 and 28. The one who breaks the commandments of God, cursed are you in the city. Cursed are you in the country. Cursed are you at the kneading bowl. Cursed are you in the field. Cursed are you wherever you go, you are under the curse of God. Christ became a curse for us by imputation. Why? That we might become the righteousness of God in Him. He received the malediction. He received the curse of the covenant that we would receive the blessing of the covenant. That's what the benediction is all about at the end of the service. God pronouncing a blessing upon His people because Christ bore the curse in our place. Hupere, on our behalf, He bore the curse. What a wonder and what a glory of the work of Christ. foreshadowed all in the old covenant, even as Jesus said in Luke chapter 24, Moses wrote about me, the prophets wrote about me, and I'm written about in the Psalms. They all speak about me. Those are genres. So the law, speaking about the first five books, you find in the Psalms, that's the wisdom literature, and in the prophets, the major and minor prophets. He is the one who is spoken of that redeems his people. Psalm 22. It's amazing how much you find in Psalm 22 that is foreshadowed in the person. I mean, the things that have happened there that David is writing about did not happen to David. There's a whole section there that did not happen in his life. He was speaking and writing of the Christ who would then endure this maltreatment by sinners. So I think we find again foreshadow in Isaiah 53, the great gospel of Isaiah. Christ who became a curse for us that we might be redeemed. So now we come to the scene here in Luke chapter 23. You find Jesus being led away to the cross. He was so beaten, and his body was so ravished and blood had been drained out of him because of the beating, the whipping, the catenine tails that came against him. You realize the catenine tails was, it was a stick that had leather straps and on the ends of it would be fragments of bone or metal, whatever. Anything that they could have and get their hands on of sharp objects would be tied to the end of that and that's what he would be beaten with. And so, when he would be hit, it would come and it would reach out and it would grab the backside of it and it would pull and it would rip skin. Josephus, when he speaks about his annals, he speaks about the person of Christ and he has a comment in there that his body cavity was opened up so you could see organs. That's the beating that he went through for our sins. By his stripes, we are healed. Christ was certainly, as Pilate had said, behold the man. He was the man among men. But he was so beaten that he could not carry the crossbeam. So they got Simon the Cyrenian. Multitudes of people followed him. Women, those who ministered to him. Jesus, as they lamented for him, don't weep for me. Why not weep for Him? It's My meat and My drink to do the will of My Father in heaven. I've come to do Thy will, O God. It is written of Me in the volume of the books. I have come to do Your will. If I must drink the dregs to the bitter end, this is the reason that I have come. I have meat and I have drink that the Father has given unto Me, which You know not of. And this is to lay down His life for His sheep. He says the days are coming. When they're going to cry out, let the mountains cover us. Verse 34, Jesus said, Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do. What a merciful high priest, isn't it? And that becomes realized in this criminal, this thief, who's on the cross, and he's there because of his own crime. And Jesus prays, and you'll find in the book of Acts, you'll find more of people who came to faith in Christ. And Turian said, this man truly was the Son of God. And we know that even that expression is the work of the Holy Spirit within the soul. And so, moving through there, the soldiers mocked Him. The rulers didn't even know what they were doing. Paul writes about that in 1 Corinthians 2. Had they known, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. But they were blinded by their sin. It was written above His cross that He is the King of the Jews. And notice, we come to our text this evening. Then one of the criminals, Now, this account is also mentioned in Mark, and it's also mentioned in Matthew. But when you read the Gospels, and the Synoptic Gospels, you'll find with those Gospels, there is information in one that might not be in another. And they really round out the whole of what is going on by what was given here in Matthew, what was given in Mark, and then what we find here with Luke. Now, Mark had known Luke. And so in his, he doesn't give all the details that Luke does, but he gives a number of them. And he says that in that, his account, that the two criminals, the two were blaspheming the Christ. Right? So get the scenario. It says one of the criminals who hanged there blasphemed him, but Mark makes it clear that it was both of them. It doesn't say that only one. He says one was blaspheming. That's what Luke accounts. Mark makes it clear that both of them were doing so. Notice how important that is. Because at the moment when they are gone to the cross and laid upon them, the spikes in the hands and raised up, and there they are basically suffocating on the cross, that both of them or blaspheming the Christ, railing at him. So to this point, there has not been a change in this one criminal. So when they're hanging there, they're blaspheming. Now, it's amazing that being on the cross and having the spike, being able to push up and to grasp another breath, that you would waste that breath by blaspheming the Christ. You see how vicious sin is in the soul? See the hatred, the enmity, the animosity they had for the one who was called the Christ, Emmanuel, God with us? That they used that breath to be able to blaspheme His name. And the things that they said were this, if you are the Christ, save yourself. Save us. This is, again, the doubting that goes on. Jesus had already been told that you are my well-beloved son. It was already clear that who he was, and clearly that his fame had gone around all of the Mediterranean area, and they knew about him. And they knew what was said about him. Even Jesus asked, what are they saying about me? He said that to his disciples. What are the people, what are they talking about? Who do they say that I, the Son of Man, am? Well, some say you're Jeremiah. Some say John the Baptist or one of the prophets. But who do you say that I am? Well, you're the Christ. You're the Son of the living God. Clearly, they were talking about the Christ. and that it was declared that He is the Son of God. Save yourself. Himself He could not save. For Him to come down off the cross meant sure death for all those that are given to Him by His Father. And He has said, of all those that you have given to Me, I have lost none. There are none that He could lose. So, Father, if there is any other way, let this cup pass from me. Nevertheless, not what I will, but thy will be done. If I must drink the dregs to the bitter end, so be it. And so the other is saying, answering, rebuked the one criminal. Notice the change has taken place in this one man. The one who was hanging there and deservedly so, that he deserved to be put to death as a criminal. So the other answering rebuked him. Now, when someone is, their mind is illumined to the truth, the Holy Spirit works in an individual. When Christ becomes precious to you, Peter speaks about that in 1 Peter 2, where the Father calls him precious. And that Christ is precious to the Father means that He is precious to those begotten by God. Those that are the children of God. Those that have been born of the Spirit of God. And so, here is a change that this man begins rebuking one who is coming against his Christ. His Savior. This is an evidence, beloved, this is an evidence of salvation, that you want to defend the Christ who has redeemed you from your sin and misery. We're finding the beginning stages of this in this man's life. Now, how are we at defending our Christ? How are we standing against the blasphemous people of this world when they are blaspheming the name of our Savior? Of the one with His inexpressible anguish, pains, and tears endured the cross. Hell in our place! And we can be closed mouth? In evidence, of the regenerating work of the Spirit is a defense against those who come against our Savior. We desire the honor and the glory and the praise of the Christ who gave Himself for me. So you find that in this man. And he says this to the other criminal. Do you not even fear God? You see, Paul had already written, he writes that there is no fear of God before their eyes. Where did he get that? He got that from the Psalms. There are a number of places in the Psalms that speak about the unbeliever having no fear of God in their eyes. Remember the unjust judge. Though I do not fear God, he said. The believer fears God. And it's not a fear of punishment. It's a fear of obedience. It's a fear of obeisance. It's a fear of worship. It's a fear of adoration. That's how we fear the Lord. We fear offending Him. We fear of bringing shame to His name. Young believers have absolutely no care about that at all. They blaspheme the name of God, God the Father. They blaspheme the name of the Son. They're constantly railing with all kinds of words against God. He asked him, do you not even fear God? This even means, right, you could see this, that this man is fearing God. Don't you fear Him? Which is clearly, this man is saying, I have fear in my soul for God. Do you not even fear God, seeing that you are under the same condemnation? In other words, this man is talking to this other one about, you're going to hell. You're under the wrath and the curse of God. And you're punished for your sins right now, temporally, but you're descending to hell. You're going there. Don't you fear that? Don't you fear the God who holds your breath in His hands? Don't you fear the One to whose eyes all things are open, to whom we must give an account? Don't you fear that one who says that every word that a man speaks he will give an account of on the day of judgment? Don't you fear that God who knows you to the depth of your being? All the words you have spoken, all the things that you have done are clearly before Him? Don't you fear that God whose wrath that you're under, whose curse that you're under? This man, this criminal, is one who feared God. And he says in verse 41, that, and we indeed justly. You know what you find when someone is redeemed? They own their sin. It's the Negro spiritual. It's not my mother, it's not my father. It's me, oh Lord, standing in the need of prayer. It's me, I've done it. I've broken all of your commandments. It's me. The fingers aren't pointing to others. The fingers are pointing here. This is what you find with the tax collector who stood far off beating upon his breast It's the abject humility about knowing that sin arises from within, even as Jesus said in Matthew 15. It's from within that a man demonstrates himself to be an idolater, an adulterer, a thief, covetous man, an extortioner. It's from within that these things come out. This is what makes the man unclean. It's my heart. He confesses it. Let me ask you, beloved, how often do you hide your sin before the Lord? It's just foolish, isn't it? It's absolutely ludicrous. And yet we do it. We're like Adam and Eve. We run and we want to put on the fig leaves. There's all kinds of ways that man puts on fig leaves today. But the idea is that we run. We try to hide. We try to cover that. Whoever tries to cover his sins will be exposed, but he who confesses them will find safety. You see, conviction and the work of the Holy Spirit causes us to realize we have broken all the commandments of God. This is what Paul speaks about. I, through the law, died to the law. I recognized when the law came home to the heart, I have not kept any of it. I have violated all of it. And he said it. I have broken your commandments. We indeed justly, for we receive the due reward for our sins, for our deeds. So he means his rebellion, his crimes. We're getting what we deserve. Beloved, if we got what we would deserve, we got what we deserve, what would we get? We would get hell. That's what we deserve. Are you there in your Christian life where you recognize, as the catechism says, that we deserve temporal and eternal punishment from God? Do you recognize that? You see, if you're not recognizing that, then there's a disconnect that's going on within your soul. You're not recognizing what the scripture clearly says, that we are worthy and deserving of damnation, that we deserve the justice of God. We deserve hell. And yet enter the mercy of God. If you're believing on Jesus Christ, you're trusting in him, you didn't get God's justice. You got mercy. You got what you didn't deserve. God has withheld the punishment of your sins from you, from you being punished, and He punishes them in His Son. And He gives you what you don't deserve. He gives you Christ and His righteousness. Justly, even as the criminal says here, if I was to go to hell, I got exactly what I deserve. Breaking all the commandments. He confesses that. But he says, but this man, the man on the middle cross, he has done nothing wrong. It goes further than just saying he hasn't committed a crime. He is one who is without sin. He is the only one that could have stood up when Jesus said, he who is without sin, let him cast the first stone. Christ alone could have cast that stone. Because He is the only one without sin. All of us would have been just like the Pharisees, dropping the stones and walking away. But not this one. This one is the sinless, spotless Lamb of God who has no sin. There was no deceit in His mouth. His mind never entertained sinful thoughts. That boggles my mind. But that's who our Christ is, the sinless one. What's he there for? He's there who pair on our behalf, in our place, for us. He has done nothing wrong. Then he turns. Notice again the progression of this. The guy's mind is illumined. He begins railing against the one who is railing against the Christ. He is... It's an act of worship. It's an adoration. He says, I deserve this. He doesn't. And he looks right at Christ. And he says, Lord, Lord, Kurios, Sovereign One, the Ruler, the only Potentate. That's a revelation of the Holy Spirit. No man can call Christ Lord except by the Spirit, Paul writes 1 Corinthians 12. The Holy Spirit illumines, right? Who do you say that I am? You're the Christ, the Lord, the Kurios, the Son of the living God. Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah. Flesh and blood has not revealed that to you, but my Father who is in heaven. To know Christ, to believe, to trust Christ as Lord, is a revelation of God. The Lord has, the Holy Spirit has quickened your mind to believe, to trust, to embrace, to declare Jesus as Lord, Master, King, Ruler, Potentate, Sovereign One. And this is what He says, Jesus, Lord, remember me. Recall my name, is what he's saying. Recall my name when you come into your kingdom. This man understands that the death that Christ is going to die, he inherits a kingdom because he's Lord. And this man wants to be a part of that kingdom. When he says, remember me, it's bring me too. Save me. It's a cry of redemption. It's a cry like the tax collector beating upon his breast. Lord, provide a propitiation for me, an atoning sacrifice. I can't enter the kingdom unless you provide it. Remember me when you come into your kingdom. Unbelievers don't say that. That's a believer's words. That's a heart of faith right there. A heart that believes Christ is Lord, Christ has a kingdom, Christ can save. Remember me when you come into your kingdom. This is what Jesus says to him. You can lay your head down on your pillow at night with these words. These are some of the greatest words that we find in the Gospels. But I want to say something about these words This criminal was saved at the last hour of his life. J.C. Ryle comments about that. He said he was saved at the last hour of his life so that no sinner would despair. But there's only one account of being saved at the last hour of your life so that sinners would not presume. Jesus said to him, can you see the Savior looking at him with the compassion, with the love of God? Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do. And the thief is one who is recognizing the forgiveness granted to him, Christ looking upon him. You know, the gaze of Christ. The gaze of Christ when Peter says, I don't know the man. And Jesus looked at him. You know the different gazes, the different ways that we can look at people. And you can see somebody with compassion in their face. And then you can see the gaze. You can see that stealing look that seems to go right through your soul. This is a look of compassion from the Savior. He says assuredly. It means amen. Truly, truly, I say to you, looking right at Him. You know, we teach our kids, don't we? Look at Him when He's talking to you. Look Him in the eye. Don't look down. Don't look away. Look Him right in the eye. There's techniques to see if somebody's lying. One of them is constantly looking away. Ask them a direct question, they look down. They're signals. Jesus is looking at this man right in his face. And he says, truly I say to you, today, not tomorrow, not 2,000 years from now, today, And that's what the Greek term means. This day. It's what's called a near demonstrative in the Greek. This day. Today, you are going to be with me in paradise. Paradise is the dwelling place of God. Paul got a glimpse of that. 2 Corinthians chapter 12, he says, I knew a man in Christ 14 years ago, whether in the body or out of the body, I don't know. God knows. But I saw and I heard things that were unlawful for a man to repeat, glorious, wondrous things in paradise. And Jesus told this criminal, this thief, that he would be with him today in paradise, as Jesus gave up the ghost. Into your hands I commend my spirit, because no one takes my life from me. I lay it down of my own accord. I have power to lay it down. I have power to take it up again. This power I've received from my Father. Couldn't I not call 10,000 angels? Legions, 12 legions. Thousands upon thousands upon thousands of angels. Remember when He was at the tomb and they were seeking Him. Who do you seek? Jesus of Nazareth. I am He. 500 of the soldiers fell over backwards. No one takes my life, but I lay it down on my own accord. He laid down his life and entered into paradise. You see, when Jesus died and they came and they broke the other legs of the criminals because Jesus was already dead. See, he had already gone into paradise. I go to prepare a place for you. He went to prepare the place for this criminal. who followed after the Lord, and right now is present with the Lord in glory. A man who deserves the wrath of God, who deserves the punishment of God, but receives all of the blessings of God. Why? Only that God would declare it and ordain it so. The blood on the lentils, There was not looking inside to see who was worthy for the angel of death to pass over. There was only a looking for the blood because everybody on the inside is unworthy. It was the blood by faith that we put on the lentil in the doorpost. It's by faith, beloved, we lay hold of the crucified Savior who is risen from the dead. It's by faith we trust in His perfect work on our behalf. It's by faith that the moment that we die, we enter into paradise as the Lord promised this criminal. To be absent from this body is to be present with the Lord. Paul said, I have a desire to depart and to be with Christ which is far better That's why it's precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints. We enter in to the joy of the Lord. This man who deserved wrath received the mercy of Christ. Even as Christ is on the cross and the love, the affection, the compassion reaches out and redeems this man from all of his sin and misery. Beloved, are you trusting this one who's on the middle cross? Are you saying to Him, Lord, remember me? Will you come into your kingdom? Remember me, even me. In Psalm 8, David says, what is man that you are mindful of him, the son of man, that you even consider him? You made him a little lower than the angels and crowned him with glory and honor. Who am I? How about Gideon? Who am I among my people? I am the smallest of tribes. Who am I? Why would the Lord God be concerned with me? God is a Savior, and He delights to save. Come, come to Him, to this crucified one. And the promise is that you will be with me in paradise. Look to Him, beloved. There's none other. There's no one else. There's no other way. but in the crucified one who is risen, who right now is at the right hand of the Father, ruling all over all things for the glory of his Father. Look to him, and you will hear those precious words laying your head down on the pillow tonight. You will be with me in paradise. Amen. Shall we pray?