Luke chapter 23. Luke 23 verse 39. And while you're turning there, I want to say that it is a privilege to be here to worship with you. I bring greetings from Cornerstone Church over in Jackson. We love this church. We love your pastor. Sovereign Grace Bible Church is blessed to have a man like Pastor Paul who will stand up and love you and cut the word straight and accurately divide the word. It's been a joy for our family to stay with them last night. Very hospitable, dear family. We're so grateful to have like-minded church across the state. This is a church where the word of God is upheld. and where the God of the Word is worshipped as he ought to be worshipped. And so it is a privilege to be here with you all to worship through the hearing and the study of the Word of God this morning. I want to open to a passage that might be familiar to you, or maybe it's the first time that you have studied this passage. For God's people throughout the centuries, of course, the cross remains central. The cross is the pinnacle of our faith. There have been various theories put forth about the cross, what happened, what it's for, distortions of the cross. Even we think of that as this is the 500th anniversary of the Reformation coming up on October 31st, where we sort of refocus our hearts as we do weekly, hopefully, on the cross and what God did. There were many individuals present that day when our Lord was put up on the cross, a plan which had been crafted from all eternity. It was no happenstance. various individuals that were present, but one individual I want to look at today, a very unlikely individual, perhaps one of the most unlikely of all, who was present and gives us insight into the glorious doctrines of sovereign grace. God opened his eyes, his heart to see Christ for who he is, as he does for his elect. And so in doing so, his conversion becomes one of the most famous deathbed conversions, if you want to call it that, that delights our heart at the grace of God, and the sovereignty of God, and the glory of God, and what happens when a sinner is brought to saving faith. So follow along as I read our passage. I'm actually going to start back a little bit in verse thirty three to get some momentum of Luke twenty three to sort of set the scene and set the stage that we can smell the sense and see the sites and put our feet back to this critical moment this moment two thousand years ago so far along as I read Luke twenty three verse thirty three in the inerrant infallible word of God. Verse 33, when they came to the place called the Skull, there they crucified him and the criminals, one on the right and the other on the left. But Jesus was saying, Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing. And they cast lots, dividing up his garments among themselves. And the people stood by, looking on, and even the rulers were sneering at him, saying, he saved others, let him save himself, if this is the Christ of God, his chosen one. The soldiers also mocked him, coming up to him and offering sour wine and saying, if you are the king of the Jews, save yourself. Now there was also an inscription above him. This is the king of the Jews, verse 39. One of the criminals who were hanged there was hurling abuse at him saying, are you not the Christ? Save yourself and us. But the other answered in rebuking him and said, do you not even fear God? since you are under the same sentence of condemnation. And we indeed are suffering justly, for we are receiving what we deserve for our deeds. But this man has done nothing wrong." And he was saying, Jesus, remember me when you come in your kingdom. And he said to him, truly I say to you, today you shall be with me in paradise. So reads the inerrant Word of God. The Gospel of Luke. Luke documents Christ's three-year earthly ministry, and he slows way down at the cross because this is such a critical moment. that we would have this moment in our focus every day, every moment of life, because this is the moment and this is the event which brings focus and calibration and stability to the battles of life. And Luke sort of goes in slow motion here, that we could see all the textures of the event. and be there for ourselves. The most significant event in the universe. The big idea for our study, verses 39 to 43. If you were to sort of capture in one sentence what we're going to see, it's this. It's because he is the God-man. Because he is the God-man, Christ's substitutionary death on the cross is sufficient to make the greatest sinner righteous in God's sight. Because he is the God-man, Christ's substitutionary death on the cross is sufficient to make the greatest sinner righteous in God's sight. We'll travel through the text together, verse 39 to 43, and at the end we'll make some observations. Now preface, before we get into this, we need to ask ourselves and sort of back up, what is someone like Christ doing at a place like the cross? How did this happen from a human standpoint? During the first century, crucifixion was a form of capital punishment reserved only for the worst and the most despicable criminals. And the Romans had perfected the art of execution. This had been brought to them by Persians and such. The process really started, it was a humiliating process of crucifixion. It started where they would whip the criminal, usually with a whip studded with bone or some kind of rock or metal. And then they would have the criminal carry their tool of execution out to the place of execution, and they would wear a sign around their neck that would have the charge written there. And for Christ, of course, what was the charge? What was above the cross? This is the King of the Jews. And the irony couldn't be greater, because the charge is the reality. His identity was a crime. And so the criminal would carry it out. And he would arrive at the place of execution being bloodied. And they would lay him down on the cross. And then an executioner would come and hammer these spikes through his arms and legs. And they would pick up the cross. And it would slam down in a hole, all the weight of the individual's body crashing on those spikes. And then he would be subjected to humiliation. Typically, they would die of asphyxiation. because every breath they would have to pull up on their spikes, and their ribcage would have to expand to take a breath, and after a while they lost so much strength after losing blood and being brutalized that they could not pick themselves up anymore on the spikes, and so they would suffocate, and such was the case with Christ, it seems. This would go on for hours. Eventually the soldiers, if the individual wasn't dead, the soldiers would come break the legs so they could no longer push up to inhale and take a breath. Jesus is there because the unregenerate religious leaders loathed him. Because Christ came to a time and a day where really it was religious theatrics. And Christ came and brought clarity and spoke truth and love and the hardness of heart of the Pharisees and the quote-unquote religious elite of the day would have none of it. And he called out their hypocrisy and their theatrics and so claiming to be God, of course, they would have none of that and they brought the capital punishment upon him. Of course, Christ proved that he was God. He's fulfilled, by this time in Luke 23, he's fulfilled the many prophecies in the Old Testament. There are over 300. And he stopped storms, and he's healed quadriplegics. And he has shown through his teaching and his love and his compassion and his power that he is God. But the Jews refused to see it, nor could they see it because of their unregenerate state. And so after three years, they hold this mock trial. And here Christ is. And there are many present at the crucifixion that day, aren't there? There are many people present. Most of the disciples have fled. There are the religious officials, there are the scribes, the Pharisees, the Roman soldiers, all mocking him. His followers were devastated and confused. How could this Jesus end up on a cross? And of course, He's there because he planned it. This is a plan that has been crafted before all eternity for the glory of God and for the redeeming of the elect and the bride of Christ. God the Father, furthermore, is present. We won't get into it, but in verse 44 and 45 of Luke 23, what happens? What signs does God the Father bring? Gets a little dark, doesn't it? And there were no eclipses scheduled at that time. This is God the Father, and the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. Not from bottom to the top, from top to bottom. God the Father is there bringing judgment for all the sin of God's people and the elect. Furthermore, there's these two criminals. There are two criminals crucified on either side of Jesus. And what is their crime? Turn to, keep your finger in Matthew, excuse me, in Luke 23, and turn over to Matthew 27, if you would, really quickly, please. Matthew 27, 44. There, we'll look at that in just a second, but their crime, the Greek word used describes a violent robber. In Matthew 27-44, the robbers who had been crucified with him were also insulting him with the same words. You can turn back to Luke 23. So these weren't just your average criminal who stole bread because they were hungry. The Greek word describes a criminal who steals but also does violence as he steals. Murder, perhaps. So they're under capital punishment as well. And both, as we saw in Matthew 27, 44, both the criminals were insulting him. Very important. At one point, both of them were insulting Christ. And this is, quite frankly, this is amazing. Think about this. It's excruciatingly painful to hang on nails. Even so, these criminals have the audacity and the depravity to use their last remaining breaths and their last strength to push up on the nails because I need to insult this Jesus next to me. And they're moments away from eternity and have just a little bit of strength in them and they use it to insult God and to blaspheme God. And that's their greatest crime. Their greatest crime isn't stealing bread and murder. Their greatest crime is blaspheming the creator, the Lord Jesus Christ. So they've flagrantly broken commandments. They're doubly guilty. They're the worst of society, these criminals. They're an offense. And again, Luke is going to slow things down, because he says, I want you to see what God did in His sovereign grace. What God does, continues to do in His mercy. Here's where our text begins. Look at verse 39, if you would. Verse 39. One of the criminals who were hanged there was hurling abuse at him, saying, Are you not the Christ? Save yourself and us! The audacity there, right? But notice, this criminal believes that Jesus is the Christ. It's not a saving belief. We can tell there his audacity, putting himself above God. This isn't a saving belief. But he believes that Jesus is who he says he is. But there's another problem. This one criminal thinks that his greatest need is to get out of his punishment from the civil authorities. He's deceived. He thinks the civil authorities are my worst enemy. Rome is my worst enemy. He has much greater problems. That's nothing. His greater, far greater problems are his crimes against God, the sovereign authority. And yet God in his mercy is willing to pay for his crimes in Christ, in this beaten, crucified, merciful Messiah a few feet from him. Of course, you won't see it. Sometimes that's the way it is with people, isn't it? God, Christ, and his love is put before their eyes to through you and through people who love them enough to speak of the crucifixion and the resurrection of Christ, and they refuse to see the love of God. And few things burden the hearts of the saints more than that. But his punishment, his punishment from Rome will not even compare to his punishment from God. In his final breath, he's blaspheming the Messiah sent to save him. Tragedy. But notice something back in verse 39. Look there with me. It says, how many criminals? One of the criminals. One. Earlier, as we saw in Matthew 27, 44, how many were there blaspheming? Both. One of the voices has gone silent. What's happened? Look at verse 40 with me. But the other answered, and rebuking him, said, Do you not even fear God? Since you are under the same sentence of condemnation, and we indeed are suffering justly, for we're receiving what we deserve for our deeds. But this man has done nothing wrong. Wow. He's gone from blaspheming God to fearing God. He's gone from demanding that he'd been taken off the cross to admitting that he deserves it. He has this submissive attitude that we all need to have towards God and towards his own punishment. He confesses he deserves to be hanging on the cross. Since when is fearing God a part of the conversation? Do you not fear God, verse 40? What a change. What a change has happened in his heart. His overwhelming concern now is not crosses and nails, but the fear of God, fearing his creator. He hasn't cared about fearing God for one moment in his life. It's always been about himself. It's always been about hating people who got in his way, robbing people who had what he wanted. He became a way of life. He had a hardened heart. And he was a high-handed thief and blasphemer. Something had changed, though. He was lobbying abuses at Christ, but as the hours wore on, perhaps he was struck struck by something that was more piercing than these Roman spikes. He watched the God-man Jesus next to him throughout the day as he went through the shaming punishment and as he saw the humble demeanor of Christ. And though being reviled, he didn't revile in return. He heard the shouts, King of the Jews. Likely, it's very likely that this thief who had been in Jerusalem for any amount of time as Christ was there for three years, certainly he had heard of the miracles, maybe seen the miracles, maybe he had heard the Sermon on the Mount back in Matthew 5, heard a rendition of it, where Christ taught, you're not just a murderer if you take someone's life, you're a murderer if you hate someone in your heart. And perhaps this is beginning to pierce him. You're guilty of hell if you even hate someone in your heart. And his heart was softening. He was coming in line with John 7, if anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. He realized he was heading for something far worse than crucifixion. He would pass out of this life, as all human beings will do, regardless of their spiritual persuasion, and will stand before a holy God. So for the thief, Rome and its crosses are far less of an issue. He's broken God's law, and he's minutes from having to stand before God to give an account for his life, for every thought, every word, every deed, and even his own nature. So he fears God. And this is one great evidence, by the way, of saving faith. is a fear of God. Not an abstract sort of new morality. I want to be a better guy. I want to be more moral. Anyone can do that. The cults can do that. The flesh can do that. But a fear of the God of the 66 books of the Bible. That is a sign of saving faith that God in his mercy produces. God becomes a governing force. There's a second evidence of saving faith. Look at verse 41. He says, we are suffering justly. But we're getting what we deserve. What's happening to me is right, is fair. For a time, the thieves assumed that they should be led off the cross. But how things have changed here. He knows now he has nothing to offer God but his own sin. He deserves nothing but hell. He's a criminal before God and the state. He makes no excuses. I deserve this. And when a dead soul is made alive, when someone becomes a Christian, they lay down their defenses. They don't say, but I'm kind of a decent person. You still need to be saved if you think that, my friend. Christ only came to save not the righteous, but sinners. You have to be a sinner to be saved. The third evidence is a belief in the righteousness and the impeccability of Christ. In verse 40, he rebukes the other thief for not fearing God. He's saying, look, this guy's suffering the same thing as us. This isn't right. He's innocent. He's righteous. He compares himself to Christ. End of verse 41, he says, notice the end of verse 41, but this man has done nothing wrong. Christ is righteous and innocent. Saving faith sees the righteousness and the impeccability of Jesus Christ. That there's none like him. Also, saving faith casts oneself on Christ alone for right standing. Casts oneself alone on Christ alone for right standing with God. Look at what he says in verse 42 is profound. Notice he says, and he was saying, Jesus, remember me when you come in your kingdom. This is probably the thief's first prayer and it'll be his last. He casts himself upon Christ. What is he saying here? Well, I want us to notice that this thief in an instant becomes an incredible theologian. as the Spirit has illumined his mind, he believes first, in that statement, Jesus, remember me, in that statement, first, he believes Jesus will not stay dead. He knows they're about to die. No one survived crucifixion in that day. But he believes Jesus won't stay dead. Jesus is powerful enough to overcome death. How so? Because he believes Jesus will have a kingdom. Remember me, Jesus, when you come. Second, he understands the truth that he too will not stay dead. Yeah, he'll die from crucifixion as all did, but all will face God. There will be a universal resurrection. Again, remember me when you come. He knows he's gone, but there is more to life than now. And he couldn't remember him unless he would be alive again, this thief, as all humanity will. Every human being, when we do our door-to-door evangelism sometimes over in Jackson, you know, sometimes people, you get into interesting discussions. But when we needed just to bring it down to the bottom line, we like to say, you know, dear friend, here's what's going to happen. You will die. And like all humanity, you will stand before God one day. How's that day gonna go for ya? How's that day gonna go for ya? God won't grave on a curve. He will not grate on a curve. First, second, he understands, too, that Jesus has the authority to put him in right standing with God. Again, Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom. He knows Jesus has the authority to make a human being in right standing before God the Father, because certainly the thief isn't saying, oh, well, remember some morality I have. Remember that I was a pretty decent guy and I worked hard. There's nothing to remember about this guy except sin. Jesus would make him in right standing. It's a plea for mercy and forgiveness to be made right with God. Otherwise, it would be a terrible thing for this thief to be remembered in the judgment. It's a plea for mercy. God is so merciful to any who would just fall down and cry out for his mercy. But fourth, the thief, even more, he believes Jesus is the predicted Messiah and King of the world. He believes Jesus is the predicted Messiah and King of the world. Where do we get that from the text? Remember me when you come into your kingdom. Living in Jerusalem for any amount of time, this thief would know that the Jews there clung to the Old Testament. More specifically, they clung to the promises, the literal promises, that one day the Messiah would come and bring a kingdom. Someone who descended from Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and from the tribe of Judah, and in the line of David, that one day there would be this king and kingdom that would come. He'll have no sin. He'll be righteous. He'll rule the entire globe. Israel will be restored. Conditions upon the earth will be radically upgraded. Christ will reign as supreme authority. Every Jew knew this at the time, for the most part, though most refused to know Christ as king. And the thief knows that this Jesus is going to have a kingdom. And fifth, the thief understands that no one No one gets to heaven by their religious deeds. He gets that. He has none to offer. And yes, he doesn't have time real quick to step off the cross, go back to the temple, and say, hold up, hold up real quick, guys. Let me go offer some sacrifices and do some good religious moral deeds so that God can accept me. There's no time for that. Because that's not how we're accepted by God. He throws himself on Christ. He has no time left to go be a good moral citizen. He has no time left to sort of, well, let me get the scales of my good up to outdo the bad. There's no such thing as that. None of us can do that. He has nothing to offer God but sin like all of us, and he knows that no one gets to heaven by their works. Christ's kingdom will be a kingdom of perfect righteousness, perfect beauty, perfect goodness and purity, which is why the thief, who is a notorious sinner, why the thief pleads for mercy, to be able to make it into heaven, he knows that his only hope for eternal life is, Jesus, remember me. It's a cry of saving faith. That's his ticket to eternal life. He's not going to patronize God and say, well, you know, I was a pretty decent person. I wasn't that bad. No. He knows John 6, 29. where Jesus says, they ask him, Jesus, what work shall we do? You know, people say that sometimes. What do I need to do to get to heaven? Like, what works? And how does Jesus answer that question in John 6, 29? This is the work of God that you believe. Him whom the Father has sent. That's the work you got to do. It's not a work, it's faith. The thief knows that it is by grace we're saved through faith. And this, not of ourselves, it's a gift of God, not by work, so that no one will boast." And this all came about because of a radical heart change. The thief didn't decide to become moral on the cross. We know that one's own decision isn't enough. Otherwise, the other thief, he would have decided to. This is the sovereign grace of God coming. and the decision of God alone, motivated by the glory of God alone, where God came down upon this select man, and God came down on this notorious sinner, and he opened his eyes to behold the glory of God, and to put saving faith in the Messiah, and he was saved by a work of God, and God's glorious grace alone, and nothing of his own works. That's how his heart changed. His heart was granite. This is a miracle. Matthew 11, 27, Jesus says, look, all things have been handed to me by my father. I'm in total authority. And no one knows the son except the father, nor does anyone know the father except the son, and anyone whom the son wills or decides to reveal, to open up, to open their eyes to him. And so God does the spiritual surgery, though he's hanging on the cross, God removes his heart of stone, puts in a living heart, so that the first time that's worst of sinners, that God loves, and he's the most notorious in society, and God loves him, and turned on the lights and gave him saving faith. He's born again. But how will Christ respond to his plea? Once again, this guy is despicable in the eyes of your average conservative religious Jew. How will Christ respond to his plea? Look at verse 43. He said to him, truly I say to you, truly emphasis, take this to the bank, Jesus is saying, truly I say to you. And notice the word, I like this word, today. today you will be with me in paradise." In a few moments, they'd all be dead, lifeless, beaten, beaten to a pulp, bloody bodies hanging on the cross, but today they would be together, Jesus and this thief. And their conditions are about as far from paradise-like as one could imagine. Again, this can only mean that there is a joyful, conscious life after death and instantly for all who put faith in the Lord Jesus Christ alone and not their works. Today you will be with me. Notice the personal note to it. You'll be with me. He would be with Christ personally, not at a distance. The God-man, the Messiah. and the worst there could be on earth. Outwardly, and they would be together, hand in hand, because that's the power of the blood of Christ and the cross of Christ. But notice where they would be. They would be in paradise. What's this? This Greek word is used two other places in Scripture. It's used in Revelation 2-7 and 2 Corinthians 12 in both places. Of course, it speaks of the paradise of God, heaven, glorified state, perfection. In other words, Jesus says to this dying, broken, wretched wretch, he says, the instant you die, in a few moments, you just got saved. The instant you die. You'll be welcomed into the presence of the Father, righteous, pure, perfect, to spend eternity with me in perfect fellowship forever. Well, so what about all this? So what about all this? I want us just to make four quick observations. Four observations, four lessons from the thief on the cross. Four lessons from the thief on the cross. Just to sort of gather our thoughts and observe some theological lessons here that really are some of the glories of the Christian faith. Number one, no one can get to heaven by their works. Number one, no one can get to heaven by their works. Human works. not efficacious for right-standing with God. It cannot be done. In this event, in this passage, explodes any idea, and we're thinking about this this time of year with the Reformation, this passage explodes any idea that a person could do any sort of sacrament or any sort of works-based justification And that we could be good enough to earn acceptance with God. This passage destroys that. Three little ways under this point that it destroys that. First, the thief had a few minutes maybe remaining in his life. Maybe a few minutes. And again, he can't go and undo all the years where he failed to love God, thank God, appreciate God, celebrate God, glory in God. thank God, he can't go undo all the years that he's failed to do that in his heart and with his hands and his deeds. Even if he had 10,000 years, he would never, never be able to undo it and sort of launch himself morally up into God's good graces. Because the problem with human nature, more than our deeds, it's our what? It's our heart. Jeremiah 17.9, the heart is desperately sick. It's deceitful above all else. We need a new heart, and he gets one in that moment. Second, the way we see that no one can get to heaven by their works here is because of Jesus' little word today. Today. Big doors turn on little hinges here. There's a world of theology in this word today. Notice he doesn't say, well, Jesus doesn't say, well, not in today, but in about like 20 or 30-ish years, then you can join me in paradise. That is if you do tons of good works, tons of charity, tons of philanthropy, tons of altruism. Do a few decades of that, oh, Mr. Thief, and then we'll see if you're good enough to get into heaven. No, he doesn't say anything like that today. Romans 3.20, by the works of the law, which is sort of the Jewish way, like by morality, observing God's moral code, no human being will be justified or declared in the right, made in the right, because through the law comes the knowledge of what? Sin. God's moral code only exposes how far short we've fallen underneath it. Works, you're going to have to find another way than works. The third way this passage explodes the idea of works-based righteousness is the very fact that Christ had to die. He had to die. In John 10-11, I love that passage, the passage of the Good Shepherd. I'm the Good Shepherd. The Good Shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. He did it on purpose, because no one gets to heaven through their deeds, but through a death, and not their own death, but the death of the impeccable, righteous, sinless God-man, the Lord Jesus Christ. That's how it works. That's the first lesson. Second, number two, our second lesson, thing we can sort of observe from the thief on the cross here, is that Christ alone performed all of the work for salvation. Christ alone performs the work necessary for salvation. Christ alone performs the work. We talk often and necessarily about how It is faith alone and Christ alone that we have right standing with God. But there is a sense in which salvation is by works, just not our own works. You've probably maybe heard that before, but by the works of Christ, Christ had to do it all. And then we put faith in him and he's the object of our faith and he's a mediator. And that's what he's doing on the cross. Jesus says, today you'll be with me to a notorious sinner. It's an outrageous claim. The Jews would look at this and just, it would be shameful. That guy? That guy can go to heaven today? What's he done? How is a thief instantly able to have what it takes to get into heaven? His moral resume is a disgrace, they would think. Never has he kept God's command. And remember, the standard to get to heaven, if it's up to us, not that we can ever do it, but as in Matthew 5.48, Jesus says, look, let me just kind of sum it up. I think this is helpful for evangelism. Let me just sum it up. You want to get to heaven by your own doing? You must be perfect. How perfect, Jesus? As perfect as God the Father, as your Heavenly Father is perfect. in your nature, your deed, thought, word, every second, every moment of your life. No one can do this. We deserve eternity in hell. So how could someone like him go to heaven that very day? Their answer is, there must be some incredibly sufficient, incredibly valuable payment which can pay for the sins of that thief and every other sinner, all of us. And that is exactly who Christ is and what he's doing, motivated, Motivated by his own love, God the Father provided the sufficient, valuable, infinite payment for sin that he demands. What he requires, God the Father, he supplies in the Lord Jesus Christ. So salvation is by works, just not ours. And I'm thankful for that, because I have no work that I could ever offer to God that would be remotely worthy of his acceptance. Christ came out of heaven to do the work. He died because Hebrews 9.22 says, without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness of sin. Blood must be shed for those who have sinned to be acceptable with God, but not any blood. Because if we're to give our own life, sometimes we get the question, well, if I die, why can't my death pay for the sins? Why isn't that enough to pay for my sins than the things that I've done in my life? Isn't me dying, whenever that will be, won't that be enough? Can't God accept that? It's a death, after all, the wages of sin is death, can't that? What's the problem with that, though? If we go back to places like Leviticus, Leviticus 4. Let's go back there really quick. Keep your finger on Luke 23. Go back to Leviticus 4, 27. Very insightful passage. Leviticus, such a critical book for understanding the rest of Scripture. Leviticus 4. So this is a law of sin offering. a little bit of context, what's happening in Leviticus here. God is saying, okay. God's saying, okay, look. At the Garden of Eden, humanity was booted out of my intimate, perfect, reconciled presence. At the Garden of Eden, you got booted out because you disobeyed me. And then what did God put in front of the Garden of Eden to show that? Not just like a little, you know, wire fence that says, please don't come in here. God puts a flaming sword back and forth like with a chair of them, right? He said, you can't get back into my graces and back into fellowship with me unless I make a way to do it, because that's how serious sin is. And so what's happening here in the glorious books of Exodus and Leviticus and Numbers and Deuteronomy and so on, is that God is showing, I love you. And I'm going to make a way for you to be accepted and be right in my sight. I'm going to create a people who I will cleanse for my glory. And he starts out and he shows us that acceptance with God happens on the basis of an innocent substitute, substitutionary sacrifice. And so in Leviticus 4.27, follow along as I read there, now, if anyone, any one of the common people, anybody, because he's kind of going through the congregation, the priests in Israel, if anyone of the common people sins, notice, even unintentionally, if I didn't mean to do that, it's still a violation of the holiness and the law of God. even unintentionally, in doing any of the things which the Lord has commanded not to be done, and becomes guilty, if the sin which he has committed is made known to him, then he shall bring." God says, I love you, and I'm going to make a way back. You don't have to remain alienated from me forever. He shall bring, for his offering, a goat, right away, a substitute, and a female without defect, so a perfect substitute. Notice the words, without defect, for his sin, for, or instead of, in place of. he shall lay his hand on the head of the sin offering and slay the sin of the offering at the place of the burnt offering." So the laying on of his hand. Yeah, this wasn't sanitized. Well, Mr. Priest, would you cut the throat? Because I don't want to see blood. You know, I have a sensitive stomach to blood. No, you're going to put your hand on the head, my friend. You put your hand on the head to symbolize the need for our sin to be transferred to an innocent offering. You put your hand on the head, and notice back there in verse 29, you would slay it. And it wasn't given, you know, just a little injection to put it to sleep. Its throat would be slit and there'd be blood everywhere. That's the cost of sin. And the priest will take his blood with his finger and put it on the horns of the altar of the burnt offering. All the rest of the blood he'll pour out at the base of the altar. Verse 31, then he shall remove all its fat, just as the fat was removed from the sacrifice of peace offering. And the priest shall offer it up and smoke on the altar for a soothing aroma to Yahweh, to the Lord. Because God needs to be pleased. Thus, notice, this is the critical phrase of it all, the priest shall make atonement, kippur, atonement for him, and he'll be forgiven. Kippur, cover his sin, forgiven, acceptance, the sin dealt with, but it doesn't happen until the death of the animal is complete. And so with all that, back to Luke 23, This is what's behind the works of Christ. This is what he came to do. He didn't come foremost to be like a moral example, to just sort of inspire me to reach inside that I could be gooder and do gooder and be better. No, he came to take away the penalty for our sin. This is why John the Baptist says in John 129, Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. We need the blood of a perfect and righteous substitute. Christ is the once and for all offering. He receives the penalty that we deserve God's righteous wrath for every single sin and thought were indeed For all who would ever be saved is placed on Jesus and it's as if God the Father transfers our sin and imputes our sin to Christ and all of our sin is placed on him and he's slain and he bled and he died so that we as we saw back there Leviticus 431 so that we could be forgiven and be accepted by God and There's no other way. How could there be? God is so holy. That gets me sometimes. Why would we ask? Well, isn't there another way? Why would we ask for another way? There is a way. What's amazing is there is a way. There is a way to get back to God and to go to heaven. That's incredible that there's a way. By the way, The reason Christ didn't pop himself off the cross. You know, they're saying, get off that cross and then we'll believe you. Do a neat magic trick, Jesus. Come off there and then we'll believe you. You don't patronize God like that. The reason he didn't come down is because in Leviticus 4, the animal had to what? Die. Not just get hurt really bad. It wouldn't be enough for Jesus to go in a coma and wake up a month later. for any human being to have acceptance with God. He doesn't save himself, because he saved you, and he saved me, and he saves all the elect. Also, this, this little word today explodes the heretical Roman Catholic teaching of purgatory. Purgatory. It's a doctrine, if you're unfamiliar, Sort of got a lot of traction early pre-reformation into the Reformation. It's a heretical doctrine that teaches that basically Your right standing with God is is furthered the punishment for your sins are continued to be purged hence the name purgatory after you die where you go to a intermediate place and experience this intermediate punishment called purgatory. And what this doctrine says, in effect, is that Christ's death alone is not sufficient to cover the sins of a sinner. For that reason, it's a heresy. But the Roman religion and the Roman teaching explodes on this little word, today. Today, you will be with me. Notice he doesn't say, well, you're going to need to go to purgatory, Mr. Thief. But like after 100 years there and some more purging of your sins, well, then we'll get you good enough to get in God's good grace. He says nothing like that. It's a terrible teaching. And rightly so, the Reformation happened as a work in a movement of God motivated by his love for the lost. Today, you'll be with me. It's almost as if God saved a guy like the thief and put this passage here on purpose to anticipate and do away with those kind of false teachings. Today, you'll be with me. Because the blood of Christ is that valuable. The death of Christ is that sufficient. The work of Christ is that enough to cover our sins. John 19, Jesus said, it's finished. It's finished. He wasn't talking about, well, my physiological functions are finished now. That's not what he's saying. The work needed to save sinners is finished. That's our assurance before God. Third, we learn from this passage, salvation is by faith alone, and the person and work of Christ alone. Salvation is by faith alone, and the person and work of Christ alone. If you're someone like the thief, and someone like me, and someone like all humanity, the only thing that makes sense is to cast yourself on Christ. He's so loving that he would die for sinners. Beware of thinking, well, that's good for the thief, but you know, I haven't quite been that bad. Now see, the thief knew something very important, that we don't compare ourselves to other people or the worst of society, but we compare ourselves to the best, God. So we have nothing left to do but put faith in Christ alone. And beware of thinking, well, I'm not quite ready to surrender my life in faith to Christ yet. You know, there's some things on my bucket list, there's some things remaining to do, or I'm not quite good enough, I've done too many sins, I need to get my life together. Is that what the thief is doing? You can't get anything together. That's precisely how it is. He has nothing together. He just throws himself on Christ in faith, and Christ eagerly and enthusiastically and instantly accepts him. And he's justified by faith in Christ alone. This passage doesn't encourage us to delay faith in Christ, but to discourage that. because Christ will accept us today. Nor should it encourage us that, oh, I just need to hit a lower low. Now, if I hit a lower low, then that'll motivate me. Certainly, that might happen. But again, put your faith in Christ today. Christ will save you. The point of this passage is not, well, look, you can wait till the last moment to get saved. That's not the point of the passage. But rather, the point of the passage is, you can have great sin in your life. and Christ will still save you and cleanse you. That's the point. Even the most flagrant sinners can be declared righteous in Christ by faith alone. Won't you follow Him? Won't you put faith in Him? Don't you love Him? How could you not love a Savior like this? And want to give your life to Him, if you haven't already, and throw your life on Him, and throw yourself on Him, just in simple faith. He's such a great Savior and He's your Savior and He's the Savior for the worst and for the best because the ground is flat at the cross and we're all the worst. Now fourth, because of the cross, number four, all who trust in Christ alone will immediately be with Him upon death. All who trust in Christ alone will immediately be with him upon death. In the prayer time, many of you shared prayer requests of people whose toes are on the precipice of eternity and who are peering into eternity. We'll all be there. There's a sense in which daily we're all on the precipice of eternity. Don't boast about tomorrow for you do not know what a day may bring. And those dear people, and we need to hear, and they need to hear, there's a Savior for you. And they need to hear these words today. You can be with me in paradise if you, like the thief, would just throw yourself and fall down in faith. Can you do that? Can you fall down in faith? Can you tell him what a great sinner you are? Can you just tell him how much you don't deserve except for hell? Can you tell him that you trust in him alone? And then can you tell him that you know that your works are like filthy rags? If you can just do that, and put faith in Christ. In Christ, these words are your words. When your day comes, and when their day comes, and when everybody's day comes, when they are appearing into eternity, from which there is no turning back, and there'll be no second chances, and there'll be no ability to sort of undo what I did, today is the day of salvation, that you can hear these words, today you'll be with me in paradise, simply because you put faith in Christ alone and not your works. This is what we need to hear. This is what this town needs to hear. And I'm so grateful that Sovereign Grace Bible Church, a church that preaches the truth and knows the truth and believes the truth, is here to hold up the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ and to preach the cross where people are dying of cancer and dying of the curse and dying because everyone will die. The death rate is one per person. And God has called you here in this day and this time to this town. and to the boys' school, and to Whirlwind, and to everywhere around, and to your neighbors, to lift up the cross, because there's no other hope. All of the ground is sinking sand. And perhaps there are many thieves and wretched wretches, like we all are and were at one time, who need to hear the simple message and that they could depart, whether it's in a car wreck, or a train wreck, or a cancer wreck, They could hear today. Today, you'll be with me. You'll be with me in paradise, Christ alone. Let us firmly hope in Him and love Him and speak of Him. You're such a great Savior. Father in heaven, we thank you for providing a Savior. Oh, we're so unworthy. We're so unworthy. Thank you that we don't need to take a number and wait for your kindness. We don't need to get in line and sort of tidy ourselves up. We just need to throw ourselves on the Lord Jesus Christ, on your Son. We're not worthy of such kindness. We all should have been on that cross. We all should burn. But you and your mercy, O Father, sent the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. And that salvation and justification is by faith alone, through grace alone, and Christ alone. And we thank you, because it's all for the glory of God alone. May all of us, if we're not, be saved. May we all be sanctified. And may you bless the ministry of Sovereign Grace Bible Church here in Worland in this day, as you've called them, to be salt and light in this town, Lord. And may they conduct themselves with wisdom towards outsiders, making the most of the opportunity that their words would be seasoned with grace. making the most for it and that many would be saved and built up in the most holy faith through the dear saints here until you return Lord Jesus. In the meantime, may we be faithful for your glory. It's in Jesus name we pray. Amen.