Let me invite you to turn with me to Luke, Luke chapter 23. Tonight we are picking back up a study we began this fall and took a break from over Advent and Christmas in the Gospel of Luke, especially the last days of Jesus from his tears in the Garden of Gethsemane to his triumphal entry into the very gates of heaven. Tonight we're in Luke 23, verses 39 to 43. And what we're hearing this evening are the gracious words of Jesus while he's upon the cross.
Last time we were in Luke, and we saw that Jesus was crucified between two criminals to thieves or robbers, for those who condemned him, for those who crucified him, even for those who mocked him, Jesus said, he was heard to pray, Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing. Tonight we see the fruit of that prayer in the life of one of those criminals, even in the last moments of his life. We do so tonight from Luke chapter 23 then, let me invite you to hear God's word beginning at verse 39. One of the criminals who were hanged, railed at him, saying, are you not the Christ?
Save yourself and us. But the other rebuked him, saying, do you not fear God? Since you are under the same sentence of condemnation. And we indeed, justly, for we are receiving the due reward for our deeds, but this man has done nothing wrong.
And he said, Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom. And he said to him, truly, I say to you, today, you will be with me in paradise. Amen. This is God's word.
I mean, he cut our hearts with it. Let's look to him in prayer. Father in heaven, we pray that we would know the blessing of what is promised here. And we pray that you would brand our hearts, mind, and conscience with your word, that we might have the hope of this.
In Jesus' name I pray. Amen. What do you think when you hear about prison conversions? Jeffrey Dahmer, the serial killer known as the Milwaukee Cannibal is known to have killed, and I'm sorry, this is going to be gruesome.
It was known to have killed 17 men and boys. His crimes involved rape and dismemberment, necrophilia, and cannibalism. He was caught in a sentence to 16 consecutive life sentences. And after serving less than three years of prison, he was viciously beaten to death by a fellow inmate.
Those who believe in karma might rejoice to hear that. They say karma has no menu. You get served what you deserve. But this story about Jesus teaches us something better than karma is at work.
By contrast, God's grace here is an opulent banquet where you dine with the king at his invitation and at his expense. That's not karma at all. That's grace. Prior to Jeffrey Dahmer's death while in prison, his father not having given up hope for his soul, sent him some evangelical Christian literature, which Dahmer read.
And in time, professed faith in Christ and asked for a minister to come and baptize him. A random minister in Milwaukee named Ray Radcliffe was invited to come and begin a series of one hour meetings with Dahmer and in 1994 he baptized him. What does your heart say to you when you hear that? Are you skeptical?
Are you mad? Are you kind of glad but not sure how glad to be a bit of each? What if it's true that Jesus saved a mad man and a wicked one? That liked that?
What if it's true that Dahmer sincerely repented and believed in Jesus? Every time Radcliffe tells the story, people ask if he thinks Dahmer's conversion was genuine. They might ask that myself. Radcliffe says yes.
Some still remain skeptical. Others are angry, one college professor said, if Dahmer's in heaven, I don't want to be there. Others hope that it just might be true, and they rejoice at saving grace. What does your heart do as you hear that?
In Luke here, we've got a death row conversion of a criminal thief, Radcliffe, he assaulted or otherwise stole from people, he offended, he hurt, he injured. The Roman government thought he was worthy of being tortured and killed publicly in this way, excruciatingly painful. This is not a good man. And this story reveals the power and the grace of Jesus to the wicked.
And it shows just how free and unmerited and unearnable salvation is by us and to us and how costly it is to Jesus. And it's a story that has given hope to literally thousands around the world of people who know themselves to be morally corrupt, justly deserving God's displeasure and without hope, except in his sovereign mercy. It's the story of two criminals in Jesus, actually, as you heard in the story. Let me highlight three things that we hear in this story.
First verse 39, what we see is the profanity of a hard, harded man. Secondly, we see, verses 40 to 42, the plea of a repentant criminal, and then at verse 43, the promise of a gracious savior, the profanity in the first place of a hard, harded man, verse 39. And by profanity, I mean as irreverence. Not so much vulgar to talk, but irreverence to be irreverent is to be profaned.
And that disrespect towards God, that scornfulness drips with sarcasm from the mouth of this thief. One of the criminals, verse 39, hanging there, railed or blasphemed at Jesus. Are you not the Christ? Save yourself and us.
What he's doing is he's throwing it in Jesus' face. He's saying, you're a failure, Jesus. And everything these others are saying about you is true, for you know that the priests and the chiefs and the crowds and the soldiers, they mock Jesus and said, if you're the Christ, if you're the king, come on down from there, save yourself. He's joining in with them.
You're a failure, Jesus, he's saying to him. You say you're a king who can rescue people and look at you. You're stuck on a post. And so as he piles on, you see behind his words, his heart, and there's no affection here for Jesus, of course, and there's no respect.
There's no awe, there's no fear. The other thief says, don't you fear God? The answer, of course, is no, he doesn't. The other thief says, you're under the same sentence of condemnation, and we're justly condemned.
I mean, we're getting the reward of our crimes. We deserve to be here, but this guy, he doesn't. And yet in his mocking, this one acts as though, if Jesus could save him, Jesus ought to save him, save yourself, and of course save us. He talks to Jesus like Jesus deserves to be on the cross, but acts as if he doesn't deserve to be there.
He's getting off of here if he can, but it's all scornfully stated. You see the heart behind this man, he's absolutely full of himself. He thinks nothing of Jesus. He's too proud to ask Jesus for anything sincerely.
He is shaking his fists at God, disdaining the only one who can truly help him. And he is like so many people who have no affection for Christ, who judge Jesus to be a failure, who consider him an insignificant lot on world history, unworthy of contemplation. They use his name only in jest, only to mock, only to curse, my brother-in-law one time said to me, the only time I mention Jesus is when I'm swearing. That seems different than the way you talk about Jesus, but you understand for 18 years, that's how I use the name Jesus do, a better than my brother-in-law, but I have been changed, something changed me, something changed as a Christian, but this man has not been changed.
Would I know the details of what put this man on death row, his crimes are unclear to us exactly, but he's hard as revealed, and he scorns the power of God, and he scorns the grace of God, he's too proud to pray, too full of himself to seek mercy. Here's your application, obey the Lord, spare us, every last one of us from such hardness of heart. And if we know our own pride and our own profanity, let us all pray from myself, O Lord, rescue me. Well, that's the first thing you see here.
The second is the plea of a repented criminal in verses 40 to 42. He says, Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom. Now, who is this man who asks so boldly for such mercy? You may be surprised to hear Luke doesn't point it out, but Matthew and Mark, two other gospel writers do, that both these men were criminals, both were robbers or thieves, they began the day mocking Jesus hung on either side of him, Matthew, chapter 27, one on his right, one on his left, and together they reviled him, Matthew 27, 44, both of them started out this way.
And now here he is within moments, minutes, or at the most, a short couple of hours with Jesus. And here he is suddenly rebuking the other thief, repenting of his own sin and asking him to be remembered. What happened? Why the change of heart?
One answer to that question is this, that his conversion is simply an answer, as I mentioned, to Jesus' prayer, Father, forgive them. And you know that Jesus always gets what he asks for. Do you remember the self-confidence of Simon Peter at the time of the Lord's Supper, the Passover meal? Jesus said, you all fall away.
And Peter said, even though they all fall away, I will not. And Jesus said to him, Simon, Simon, behold, Satan demanded to have you that he might sift you like wheat, but I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail, and when you have turned again, strengthen your brothers. And what happened? Peter fell away, as Jesus said.
He denied Jesus three times to his face. But what else happened? Peter repented. He turned.
His faith did not fully and finally fail. He messed up, fell flat on his face, did a horrible thing. Yet he still went on believing that Jesus was his only hope, but he came back around. Why?
Because Jesus prayed for him. And his prayers are always effective. You say, well, why did Jesus pray for Peter? I mean, he says that.
He's prayed for him. When did he do it? Well, maybe all the time, Jesus is always living the inner seat for his people. But certainly, in John chapter 17, at what's called his great high priestly prayer, Jesus before his crucifixion, praise to the Father.
He says this, verse 9, chapter 17 of John, I am not praying for the world, but for those who have given me, speaking to the Father, for they are yours. All mine are yours and yours are mine, and I am glorified in them. Holy Father, keep them in your name, verse 12, while I was with them, I kept them in your name, which you have given me. I have guarded them.
And not one of them has been lost, except the son of destruction that the scripture might be fulfilled, speaking of Judas. And then at verse 15, he prays, I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one. That prayer was effective for the disciples, but he didn't just pray it for Peter. He prayed it for you.
He goes on at verse 20, I do not ask for these only, but also for those who believe in me through their word. He's not just praying for the disciples, who've heard him, but he's praying for all of us, who've heard. And what did he pray? Well, among other things, John 17, verse 24, Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am to see my glory, that you have given me, because you love me from the foundation of the world.
You see what Jesus is saying? I'm praying that all my people will be with me in heaven. And what did he just promise this man? Today you will be with me in glory and see my glory in paradise.
This is a prayer that none of his people will be lost, and it was effective on behalf of this thief for it was for him. And don't you know that your salvation, your coming to faith in Christ, your repentance, your conversion, you're being born again, you're receiving forgiveness. Your even your enjoyment of heaven one day is an answer to Jesus prayer. Now, there's another answer or reason why the thief repented, not just as an answer to Jesus prayer, I think, but also you notice in the text that he began to own up with just a little from a different perspective.
He began to own up to who he really is, and to see Jesus for who he really is. Notice five or six things here. Notice in the first place, what does he say to the other thief? Verse 40, 41, what does he say?
He rebukes him. Do you not fear God since you're under the same sense of condemnation? And we indeed, justly for we are receiving the due reward of our deeds. What's he saying?
We're guilty. I'm guilty. I deserve to be here. You deserve to be here.
We are justly sentenced. He isn't pretending he's innocent, that he's not that bad. He doesn't say, oh, what was me? Life is just really treating me unfairly.
And these Romans, they got it wrong about me. He doesn't do any of that. He knows he belongs on that cross. And I want to say to us that you will never look to Jesus like he did until you have begun to despair of yourself and own your guilt.
You'll never appreciate the gospel until you know that you have no right to it. And the gospel won't be valuable to you until you know that if God gives you what you do have a right to, if God gives you what you deserve, you'll get condemnation because that's what your sin deserves. And so the first thing you see is he owns his guilt. He knows he's wrong.
And then he says, after saying, we're getting what we deserve, and in verse 41, but this man has done nothing wrong. He confesses publicly Christ's innocence, right? He figured it out. Jesus is good and doesn't belong on the cross.
And this is good for us to hear. You are never too evil to find salvation in Jesus. Why? Because salvation depends on his righteousness and innocence and not upon yours.
And he seems that. And he confesses freely Christ his innocence. And then he confesses that Christ is the King of God's Kingdom. It's all there where he says, remember me when you come into your kingdom, right?
You're the King. Everybody's mocking Jesus for this claim. Pilate scorned him, King of the Jews, right? And suddenly he's saying, I know who you are.
You're really it. Remember me when you come into this kingdom. And then he believes that Jesus powered us safe. He believes that Jesus is going to survive beyond the experience of crucifixion, even beyond the experience of grave.
And don't get me wrong. He had no illusions that anybody was coming off that cross alive. Nobody in a Roman crucifixion ever did. The soldiers went around and pierced the side and hammered the knees.
There was no way you got off that alive. He knows Jesus is going to die, but he just as assuredly knows that Jesus is going to rise from the dead and power and glory and come into the kingdom. And he believes in that. So he trusts Christ's ability to save him and so he prays.
He acts on the truth. He has begun to believe. And he says, remember me. Maybe he's got in his ears, Jesus, just moments before saying, Father, forgive them.
And he gives me to think, maybe he also be willing to forgive me. Would you? And so he comes empty handed to Jesus, but he opens his hands and humbly says, I need you. Save me.
And Jesus said what? I will. I will. This is a verse, by the way, about salvation being by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone.
It couldn't be more clear. John Chrysostom, a church father, 1,000 years before the Protestant Reformation, said, quote, the thief that was hanged when Christ suffered did believe only. And the most merciful God justified him. In other words, he was saying, this salvation doesn't come by doing good works, by serving the poor, by feeding the hungry, the salvation isn't by being baptized or partaking of the Lord's supper, or by paying your tithes and showing up at worship.
This salvation is found in Christ alone through repenting and believing in Jesus. And you can be stuck on a cross with nothing to do for Jesus. And you can be saved simply by believing in Jesus. And did you notice here that his plea wasn't just Jesus, save me.
But he also turned to the other man, basically saying, repent, right? In other words, he had this hope as a prisoner on death row that Jesus could save himself. And he also wanted another man to have it. That's the mark of God's grace in his life.
He wanted other people to enjoy the grace to that was offered to him. Even if it was the last thing they ever enjoyed on this earth. And I want to say to us, it is never too late. If this is the last thing we ever do, it is never too late to enjoy the grace of Christ.
Jeff Thomas, a pastor in Aberrist with Wales, says there was a farmer in his region on the Isle of Louis, west of Scotland, whose land went right up to the top of a cliff one day in his horse in his car. He was driving along near the edge unaware that the hill had eroded and his life was in danger. And suddenly it did give way. And the horse and the car all fell through the air down and down out of the rocks beneath.
And he says, as he was falling, it seemed that he remembered all that he had ever heard from attending church. And all he'd ever been taught from his Christian parents and from Sunday school teachers and youth leaders, believing friends. And it all came flooding back to his mind as he's falling literally through the air off this cliff. And while he's falling through the air, he cries out, God, save me.
And in that same instant, he was given a divine assurance in his heart of hearts that the God of grace had heard his prayer. And as it happens, he crashed on a huge pile seaweed and sand, which cushioned his falls so that he survived without injury. And he lived the rest of his life as a changed man, as a disciple of Jesus, keeping up his confession of faith in Jesus until he did die. When he told others about this experience, he would inevitably make this point if he had hit the rocks and cracked his skull and died.
His church-going friends would have said, a lass poor jock. He heard the gospel so often, always resisted it, and then died so suddenly. And there's no hope for him. They wouldn't have known, he goes on to say, that it was while I was falling, while I was in flight, I was perceiving and finding the mercy of God in Christ.
And his point of mind is this, that we don't know what goes on in the hearts and minds of our dear friends and loved ones in even the last moments of their lives. And we should never give up hope. When your friends and your family who despise Jesus, all their lives are in their last moments, it is not too late for them. And we should share the hope that we have with them.
They are fools to have waited so long. And I can assure you upon what I have seen in the testimony of every pastor I've ever read, that there are few who in those last moments get a soft heart and believe in Jesus by the grace of Jesus. Do not wait. You're a fool to wait.
You only harden yourself the longer you live, saying no to Jesus. And you have no promise or assurance. But it is possible. So let us never give up hope.
Some of you remember, I've told this story before, my mother has late stage Alzheimer's or dementia of some kind. I've always been concerned for my mother's soul. She was the one who got us to church. But I just didn't know she really knew the grace of the gospel in Jesus.
And she lived with my dad who mourns it to this day. And I went up to visit. And it was like March, but I was singing Christmas on, because I figured mama knows better than anything. And she began to hum along to Ocomo, Comi, Manuel.
And then I began to write a scripture. And I decided John 3 16 for God so loved the world that he gave his only gotten son that he ever believes in him will not perish, but will have everlasting life. And my mom lifted her head off my shoulders, turned to me, and looked clear for a woman who looked glazed. Look there, I said, that's right.
That's right. I don't know my mom's heart. I have a glimmer of hope. I've seen mom hurt the gospel time and again for 80 plus years.
There she is, indementia, affirming the truthfulness of it. Do not give up hope. I believe in deathbed conversions, not because grace is cheap, but because it's deep enough to cover a lifetime of disobedience. And the last thing you see in this passage is the promise of the Savior to this man, verse 43, where he basically says, yes.
Right. Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise. He promises three things, happiness, delight, pleasure. It's a Persian loan word for paradise.
It's used in the Old Testament by the Jews for the garden, of eating the garden of luxury, the place that was perfect before the fall. And it's picked up in the New Testament to refer to heaven itself. As it were, the new garden, the better garden, no one will fall out of it, but the garden of God, the bliss of that. The way back to that garden is not to go back because of sin.
That garden is closed. But it is to go forward into the new paradise that Jesus has opened. And he promises you bliss. And he promises it when?
Today, immediately. For this man, upon his death, you will be with me. As Paul elsewhere says, to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord. And that's why I desire to depart to leave this world, because it's better by far with Christ.
And I know that's where I'm going. There's no soul sleep here, no waiting in a state of unconsciousness. There's no purgatory here, not suffering. Your sin deserves what it deserves after death, because God is determined to get you.
Because he didn't get you enough here. None of that year. And when you're believing friends and family fall asleep in Christ, would you remember that they are rejoicing, though you may be grieving? And the third thing, not only he'll enjoy it today, it's eternal bliss.
But what's the best part about this paradise? Inimacy. Today, you will what be with me. My friends, young, little baby son, you can talk, of course, said to his father, the only way I know to calm down is to snuggle with you.
And he said that six times, just the other morning, the nearness of his father was his comfort. Little children are not too proud to want hugs from their loving parents. Lovers are not too shy to want the embrace of their lovers' arms. The best feast is the one that you eat with people you actually like.
The best joke is the one you tell to another that you can share in the laughter. And the best of heaven is to be there with your dearest friend, the Lord Jesus. Jesus isn't simply the means to get this blessing. He is the greatest blessing itself.
Heaven would not be heaven without Christ. And as A.W. Pink put it provocatively, the most amazing thing is that heaven will not be heaven to Christ in the highest sense until he has redeemed and gathered around him, his people. It is his heart longs for.
He wants them to be with him. That's heaven for Jesus. Some of you remember that we pray some time ago for friends of some of you. Ben Barr grew up in Hot Springs.
Ben and his wife, Ashley. You remember they lost their baby at birth. They knew they were going to. They have friends in that same church, Kyle Porter and his wife, Jenny, who lost their baby at 36 weeks and buried theirs just a week after the bars did.
Kyle writes this, I've always found heaven to be a strange thing or rather my relationship with heaven. It seems like a place we should long for more than we do, given how twisted and disturbed the planet we live on is. And yet I like it here. I really do.
C.S. Lewis would say I prefer mud pies. That's not something I'm proud of. It's also something I'm hopeful will change as I continue to accept the reality that sweet Kate is there and not here forever.
And it's already started. Heaven is more at the forefront of my life because of that week. We've talked about it more. It's a place I think about.
It's a place I want to be, not to see the girl I lost, although that will be a good thing. But it is a pale, don't be offended by his expression, a pale and pathetic thing compared to seeing in full the God who willingly chose that which I would never dream of choosing. I want to meet my daughter. Yes.
But what I really long for is to meet the Father who gave his son that the thief might be raised everlasting life Jesus descended into death. That the thief might be raised with Jesus in paradise. Jesus must be in the thief's place upon the cross. And this thief is going to be immediately with Jesus in a bliss to get what he does not deserve because Jesus came to be with him upon a cross.
He did not deserve to receive what the thief does deserve. That same promise is for you. Just repent and believe in him. Let's pray.
Father in heaven, you are a good and abundantly generous God. May we know the blessing of all the riches that are found in Christ and maybe he exalted among us in his name and pray. Amen. Let's stand and sing about heaven together.