We'll be focusing primarily on verses 39 to 43 in Luke chapter 23. And it's events that took place on that most memorable day in history. But before we dive in there, I want us to think about Donald. Now you've just seen him. He's up on the cliff, traveling along the path when suddenly you hear a thud. You look up and now he's lying on the shore. His horse had stumbled and over he went. Unexpectedly, irresistibly propelled to a sudden death. Now you know Donald and you know the Bible. He's not a believer. He doesn't have a living relationship with Almighty God. He's never known the joy of salvation through Jesus Christ. and that the Bible's clear. For example, Ecclesiastes 11 verse 3, in the place where the tree falls, there it will lie. Where our heart is at death determines our eternal future. Now that's wonderful good news for God's children. At death, we're carried directly into God's presence. If you've been born again, you're living for Jesus Christ, your sins are forgiven, your life's been transformed by God's incredible grace, then as the Apostle Paul so strikingly puts it, to die is gain. Death is swallowed up in victory. It's your homecoming. It's paradise begun forever. But for those who continue to neglect God, who resist, who remain wedded to this world, if you're living for self, you've never been reconciled, to Almighty God, then it's an altogether different future. Poor Donald, he's forever lost. That's how you feel as you think about him and see him lying there on the shore. That's a true story that apparently happened on the Isle of Lewis. But remarkably, Donald isn't dead. Somehow his fall was cushioned. But the really important thing was that in those few seconds between his horse stumbling and his body crashing to the ground, Donald's heart was miraculously, permanently, and wonderfully changed. He cried out to God for mercy, and it was a genuine prayer, just like the criminal we're thinking about this evening, but on the cross in our passage. The criminal's life is almost over, and he cries out to Jesus, Remember me. And what the criminal did, Donald also did. He cries to God, twixt the saddle and the ground. He mercy sought and mercy found. Now if Donald hadn't lived, no one would have ever known, would they? Poor Donald. He died unsaved, forever lost. But he did live. And his life was transformed. The man who'd rejected God all his life, living only for himself, found out the reality of Jesus' wonderful words, whoever comes to me, I will never cast out. So it's undoubtedly true, isn't it? Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. He called on God, and he was saved in those few moments. Our God saves. Jesus stretches out hands of mercy. He's not willing that any should perish, but all should come to repentance. And he tells us in Luke chapter 13, a few chapters earlier, in verse 34, that he would show mercy. It was his great longing. That's what Jesus wanted to do. He would show mercy, but the multitudes would not. They would not receive it. What a tragedy. I think those simple little words are some of the saddest you could ever read. Jesus would, but they would not. The fault is always with us, never with Jesus. So here's the question I want us to think about this evening. Is it easy to be saved? This man in his death throes, the criminal on the cross, he's a wicked man. And yet he's immediately granted mercy and enters paradise. And we know that Jesus longs to save. He longs to bring blessing, to lavish his love. the great desire of his heart. So is it easy to be saved? Well, there are three reasons why it is easy. Number one, no cut-off time, no preconditions, and thirdly, no complicated procedures. So it's wonderful good news, but life isn't always like that. You hear of some fantastic offer maybe, the deal from your electricity supplier. There's this great deal, but you have to act quickly. It's only available until the end of the month. And then there are preconditions. You have to have gas as well, and take out a direct debit. And then it's all so complicated. You go online, and you have to fill in these questions, yes or no, and you think, well, the answers may be, or perhaps. But salvation, that might be complicated, but salvation is nothing like that. So is it easy to be saved? Well, there's no cutoff time. As long as we're alive, as long as our minds are functioning, as long as we can turn to Jesus in faith, there's hope. This criminal discovered this glorious truth. Even in his dying moments, he could call upon Jesus. While there's breath in your body, call out to him. That's the first point. Never think all is lost. In the parable in Matthew's Gospel, chapter 20, even at the eleventh hour, the day almost gone, Jesus is out looking. He's seeking the lost, longing to gather workers into his vineyard. It's never too late. What a wonderful salvation. But not only is there no cut-off time, there are no preconditions. You don't have to be good enough. You come in your need. This whole, this criminal's whole life had prepared him for hell. He's an evildoer. We know from Matthew's Gospel that at first he was no different to the other criminal. Both alike despised Jesus and the robbers, both of them, the robbers who were crucified with him also reviled him. That's a terrible thing. They're mocking the only one who could save them, disdaining the Lord of Glory, the God who gave them life and they despise and dismiss him. That man was wretched, heaping up sin upon sin. But then there's this wonderful change and he cries out, remember me. That's not because of anything good that he'd done. There's nothing to commend him. And he comes just like each one of us. We come as needy sinners. Come ye sinners, poor and wretched, Weak and wounded, sick and sore, Jesus ready waits to save you, full of pity, love, and power. Let not conscience make you linger, nor a fitness fondly dream. All the fitness he requireth is to feel your need of him. Come ye weary, heavy laden, lost and ruined by the fall. If you tarry till you're better, you will never come at all. Now, Joseph Hut, wrote that hymn and he called himself before earlier on in life he called himself an audacious apostate and a bold-faced rebel that's what he was before he met with Jesus but he but he came in his need as we all must do it's the only way we can come with nothing to offer nothing but the wastes of sin and self and shame as we sometimes sing so no preconditions We come in our need, but there are also no complicated procedures. This man turns to Jesus, he asks to be remembered. Now, is that difficult? Because the words aren't. He didn't have to say some special or profound thing. He just cries out. He comes in his need. That's what I love about salvation. It's not beyond any of us. Even the youngest child who can think can respond. The most inarticulate, faltering, poorly expressed cry, if it's a response from the heart, that's all that's needed. There's no great barrier we have to climb. Let the one who desires take the water of life without price. So God's salvation is freely available. I was looking through some key Bible texts to see the kind of words that God uses. This is what he says. He says, Come to me, all who labour and are heavy laden, and I'll give you rest. Taste and see that the Lord is good. Look, you blind, that you may see. Turn to me and be saved, all the ends of the earth. Call upon me in the day of trouble. Seek the Lord while he may be found. Draw near to God, and he'll draw near to you. That doesn't seem very difficult, does it? The words used are account, taste, look, turn, call, seek, draw near. God's not pushing up the barriers. When I was young, we used to sing quite often. I don't know if people ever sing it these days, but we used to sing a wonderful little song. There is life for a look at the crucified one. There is life at this moment for thee. Then look, sinner, look unto him and be saved, unto him who was nailed up to the tree. Look, look, look and live. There is life for a look at the crucified one. There is life at this moment for thee. So it's not difficult. It's not even physical. It's not a physical looking. It's just a turning of the heart, a crying out to God in faith. So a young child can call upon God. I was reminded as I was preparing this of John. And he's 10. young lad of 10 but sadly this young boy is dying. It's his last day on earth and tragically he'd never heard about a saviour. But in God's great goodness that very day a six and a half year old girl called Nellie told John about Jesus. But I've been naughty, he said. I don't think God would want me. Oh, Nellie said, oh, but it was for wicked people Jesus died. And so just an hour before his death, John prayed this prayer. He prayed, Lord Jesus of that little girl, be my saviour too. Now he prayed that from his heart, in all sincerity, and I have no doubt that there were angels there an hour later when he parted this world to usher him into the glories of heaven. That wasn't difficult. There were no time restrictions. He came in the very last hour of his life. He didn't have to be prepared. There were no preconditions. He just turned to Jesus in his need. And there were no complicated procedures, just like that criminal on the cross. John was never baptized, never took the Lord's Supper, never joined a church. He didn't do any good deeds. But what he did do was trust in Jesus. He believed with all his heart, and so he was saved. That should encourage us, doesn't it? If you've never come to Jesus, why not come now? You're never too young, and it's never too late, but you must come now, because tomorrow it might be too late. Because it's only in this life that we can come. Turn to Jesus, call upon him, seek him, draw near to him taste and see that God is gracious overwhelming in love and full of mercy so in that sense it is easy to be saved but that's not quite the whole story i've called this message impossibly easy salvation so what does that mean impossibly easy salvation was easy we've just been thinking but also there's another side how many criminals were there or two, but only one is saved. The other remained unpersuaded. He's challenged. Do you not fear God? That's in verse 40. Do you not fear God, the other one says to him? Don't you see the seriousness of the situation? Don't you understand what you're doing? Look at Jesus, his friend says. Isn't it obvious? He's done nothing wrong. He's no ordinary man. He really is the Christ. So one man understood, it was plain and clear to him, The other remained hardened in his unbelief. So is it easy to be saved? Yes and no. Why wouldn't that other criminal enter paradise that day? Why wouldn't he turn and experience the mercy that Jesus offers? Why not trust the sinless Saviour? Why do so many reject mercy? It seems incomprehensible. Why choose death over life? Why pay for your own sins when a saviour has already died and paid the debt? Why would you die when it's life for a look? Look, look, look and live. There is life at this moment for thee. So here's another question. What is it that holds people back? What makes salvation so difficult for so many? They won't look and live. They won't turn to Jesus in faith? Well, I think there are external factors and internal factors. So let's think first briefly about the external factors. What was going on in this passage? What's almost everyone doing? But as you look at it, you'll see it's one-way traffic. Verse 18, they all cried out together, away with this man. Verse 13, Pilate had gathered the chief priests and the rulers and the people And that was their response, away with this man. It's overwhelming. They all cried out together. And even when he's on the cross, there's still no let up. Verse 35, the rulers scoffed at him. Verse 36, the soldiers also mocked him. And in verse 39, that other criminal continues to rail at him. So when everyone seems to be moving in one direction, it's not easy to go the other way. I remember hearing about a school Christian Union meeting. I think it was in Wales. And there were a few children inside at the meeting, but outside there was far more. And they were making fun of those inside. They were shouting and gesticulating through the windows. And one of the boys inside, he wasn't fazed, he said this, I'm not a dead fish. He wouldn't just go with the tide. He'd swim against it, he said. But it's not easy. And it's especially not easy because it looks like Jesus is on the losing side. The rulers, the chief priests, the Roman authorities, all the people of influence, they've rejected Jesus. Who are his supporters? Few poor disciples and a handful of women. That makes it tough to align with Jesus. It's the same today, of course, as in every generation, we're warned in Corinthians Paul writes that not many wise according to worldly standards not many powerful not many of noble birth Christ followers instead God has chosen the foolish to shame the wise the weak to shame the strong the despised to bring to nothing things that are so God's ways are so very different from the way we think God's people are strangers and exiles on the earth. Those who want to homeland here in this world, they'll never experience the far better heavenly country, the unshakably wonderful holy city of God. It's for those who won't bow to peer pressure, who won't compromise just to fit in. So the goal is far higher. You might have heard of Athanasius back in the third century. He was a fearless defender of the faith. This is what he said. He was told, the whole world is against you. So what does he say? Then I am against the world. And of course, one man or one woman with God will inevitably triumph. But it's hard. It's hard to be in a minority. How few of those earlier followers of Jesus there actually were in Jesus' lifetime. And even when he raised the debt, unleashing an unprecedented power, the impact was only minimal. So why would this criminal on the cross, why would he believe now? Because Jesus wasn't at this point raising the debt, but he himself is on the verge of death. He's battered, his body is bleeding and broken. I can just imagine, Jesus, he must have been struggling to breathe. It was an agony for him. He's the Lamb of God taking away the sin of the world. This is Jesus, we might say, at the very lowest point. But to that criminal, with his eyes of faith, that's not what he sees, Jesus at his lowest point, but he sees Jesus at his highest. He would not save himself because he was determined to save others. But it's not easy. to be an Athanasius, or to go against this world. There are external factors holding people back. But as most of us here, I'm sure, will testify, if you've counted the cost, if you've experienced Christ's incomparable mercy and blessings, you'd never want to go back. It's the greatest blessing of all to be in the family of heaven, to be united by faith. to Jesus Christ. So there's these external factors, peer pressure, the way everybody else is going, but also internal factors. In Ezekiel, there's this rather haunting question that comes up in chapter 18 and again chapter 33. And God is reasoning with his people. It's almost like it's incomprehensible to God. He says this, why? Why will you die, O house of Israel? Why die spiritually When, as we were saying, it's life for a look at the crucified one. Because the problem is our hearts. Our hearts are hardened, biased, unwilling to yield. They're full of pride. We can't easily do what that criminal did. Verse 41. I think this is one of the most striking verses, perhaps, in the whole Bible. Because the criminal says, we are receiving the due reward of our deeds. Now, what do you think about that? We're receiving the due reward of our deeds. It's extreme, isn't it? Because I could hardly imagine any crime, however heinous, that is worthy of such a horrible death. And yet he says, we deserve what we're getting. That's extraordinary. How many people have a true assessment of their actions? I just couldn't help it. I was a victim. It was my upbringing. My father, Abandoned my mother. I got in with the wrong crowd. I was led astray. I had to steal to survive. The violence was necessary. You can hear him. You can hear the criminals saying this. And besides, it was mainly the Romans that I attacked. I was only being patriotic. I'm a freedom fighter. And you can imagine all the excuses. And we're just the same. It's far too easy to justify ourselves. We naturally think that we deserve the best. I shouldn't be up on this cross. get me down Jesus that's what the other criminal says even in his extremity he still picked on someone else mocking Jesus he's basically saying I'm superior to you Jesus I can treat you with contempt he despised Jesus and in particular verse 40 there's no fear of God do you not fear God he's asked instead of fearing God sinful pride wants to become God, to be God. That's the essence of the very first sin, Adam and Eve, urged by Satan. And that's the natural desire of all of us. I'm not going to submit to anyone else. I'll do as I please. Now, the one who made me and who knows what's best for me, he might want me to do something, but I'll do what I want. Our pride kicks in. I'll determine what's best for me. And it's a disregard of God. Instead of humbly submitting to him, I'm up here and he's down there. I'll do what I want, what I think is best. There's no fear of God before their eyes. Suddenly, that one criminal seems to recognise reality. Do you not fear God, he says? In spite of the pain, years of wrong thinking, the mental anguish of facing that barbaric death, there's this extraordinary clarity. He can see it. Suddenly, we're not God, he says. He can understand. He's so wonderfully transformed that he rebukes his friend for doing something that only moments before, he'd been doing. All his life, that criminal who eventually ends up in paradise, all his life, he'd been rejecting God. Everything had been out of perspective. But suddenly, there's focus. He's been rejecting the truth because of his heart. Pride had been his downfall, but he humbly turns to Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom. So it was an internal barrier preventing him from turning to Jesus and trusting his Saviour, but he'd been blown away. His hardened, proud heart had melted. So what happens? He'd truly seen Jesus for who he was. He recognised that Jesus He's got, effectively, the Saviour. Remember, he calls Jesus, Jesus. He says, Jesus, remember me. That's the wonderful name that Jesus was called, meaning Saviour. He's called that because he will save his people from their sins. And this man, in his deep need, turns to the only Saviour of sinners. And no doubt, you've also seen that inscription, verse 38. It says, this is the King of the Jews, God's anointed Messiah, But what primarily, as we sort of wrap things up, what was it primarily, what was the ultimate reason why his heart was melted? What do you think? Well, what's the most staggeringly astonishing reality in the whole universe? Well, I reckon it's the love of God for sinful men and women. That man had a glimpse of something beyond inexplicable. Did you catch verse 34? Jesus says, Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do. We can hardly take that in, can we? It's outrageous love. Jesus prays for those who hate him. He wants mercy bestowed on these very people perpetrating the most reprehensible act in all of history. It's inexpressible love, the love of God for wretched men and women. One day, I expect I'll meet that criminal in heaven. He's there in paradise. By faith, trusting in Jesus, I'll be there too. And I want to know, I'll ask him, what was it that so touched your heart on the cross? And this is what I expect he'll say. I expect he'll say, it was love. Such unfathomable love. So have you experienced that love? God is love. And that love is seen in all its fullness. It's displayed most gloriously in majestic wonder at the cross. And I also might ask him a second question. I'll say, have you met Catherine Kelly yet? And you might wonder which Catherine Kelly. I say the one born in 1869, who so clearly saw by faith what you actually saw with your own eyes. We've sung this many times, I guess. She said this. Give me a sight, O Saviour, of thy wondrous love to me, of the love that brought thee down to earth to die on Calvary. Was it the nails, O Saviour, that bound me to the tree? Nay, t'was thine everlasting love, thy love for me, for me. It's the love of Christ, isn't it, that breaks our hearts and moves us. Has Christ's love melted your heart? She goes on, doesn't she? Then melt my heart, O Saviour, bend me, yea, break me down, until I own Thee, Conqueror and Lord and Sovereign Crown. That's exactly what happened to this dying man. His heart is broken by love. He turns to Jesus and he's everlastingly blessed. He met the God of love and everybody, the external, the internal, they're blown away. So I'm going to conclude with one last person on the verge of death. We thought of Donald right at the beginning, remember? And then John, that young lad, but primarily we focused on this criminal about to die who said, remember me and was wonderfully transformed. But here's another one, last one. it's brown low north and he came from a distinguished family but he wasted his life in in profitless pursuits and when he was 44 years old he suddenly realized that he was dying i'm a dead man he said i only i have only 10 minutes to live so his son got him upstairs to a bedroom where a maid was lighting a fire And he realised his dire predicament. He longed to be right with God. He knew he'd soon have to face Almighty God. And he wanted his sins forgiven. He wanted to leave this world at peace with God. But this maid was lighting a fire, and she was abstraction. He wanted to cry out to God for mercy, but he was self-conscious. Time was running out. She wouldn't leave the room. What would he do? Would he come to the Saviour, or would he allow some insignificant external factor to keep him from everlasting love. So what about you? Is anything keeping you from the Saviour? Something external perhaps? What other people might think? Or maybe something internal? Maybe your heart needs to be broken and melted by the love of Christ. So grasp the opportunity. That's what Brownlee North did. He threw himself on his knees by his bed and he confessed his sins in front of the maid, he pleaded with God for mercy, and he was wonderfully changed. That man, who thought he was dying, lived another 20 years. He was remarkably used in the 1859 revival. But this is what he said. A number of occasions he said this. He freely acknowledged, in his opinion, that night was the turning point. He said, if I hadn't responded then, I doubt the opportunity would ever come again. So let's not allow the day of grace to pass anyone by. Take the opportunity, respond to that love, and be everlastingly blessed forever. Amen.