Last week, we saw that divine grace, divine mercy, is found in a simple prayer of trust in the mercy of God. This week we will go to Jesus’ crucifixion and the brief conversation of Jesus and the thief on the cross will show how divine mercy is found in Jesus and his saving work alone…Salvation for sinners is found in Christ.

Read: Luke 23:39-45

[39] One of the criminals who was hanged railed at him, saying, “Are you not the Christ? Save yourself and us!” [40] But the other rebuked him, saying, “Do you not fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? [41] And we indeed justly, for we are receiving the due reward of our deeds; but this man has done nothing wrong.” [42] And he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” [43] And he said to him, “Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise.”

Prayer of Illumination

Outline:

#1 Context: What are these two criminals seeing? (v. 32-37 Briefly)

#2 What The Argument Reveals? (v.39-42)

#3 The Request & The Promise, The Proof (v. 42-43)

#4 Guarding the Truths of Christ Alone against Common Errors

#1 Context: What are these two criminals seeing? (v. 32-37).

[32] Two others, who were criminals were led away to be put to death with [Jesus].

This is in fulfillment of Isa. 53:12 “he would be numbered with the transgressors and Jesus’ own self-awareness that this would happen to fulfill the Scriptures Lk. 22:37. Jesus was just, he was innocent, he was merciful, but wrongly condemned and counted among the wicked as our innocent substituted…

[33] And when they came to the place that is called The Skull (Golgatha), there they crucified him, and the criminals, one on his right and one on his left. [34] And Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.”

He loves his enemies. While they pettily condemned the innocent, Jesus prays seeking pardon for his enemies. And the thief heard this…Father, God of the universe, forgive my enemies…

And they cast lots to divide his garments [fulfilling Ps. 22:18]. [35] And the people stood by, watching

The crowd bears abundant witness to the historical accounts of the gospels…It is a testimony to the accuracy of the four gospel crucifixion accounts because they were publicly witnessed events. Real History. And …They stood by and watched as an innocent man was crucified…They will have to reckon with this when Peter preaches the crucifixion and the resurrection of Jesus to them in a few weeks at Pentecost in Acts 2.

V. 35 but the rulers scoffed

Listen to this word for scoff: Blaspheme, blasphemed. This is the word the Greek uses to translate Psalm 22:7-8, which is the famous psalm that Jesus has quoted, “my God, my God, why have you forsaken…” saying Psalm 22 is about me…And it says… Ps. 22:7-8 All who see me mock me; they make mouths at me; they wag their heads; “He trusts in the LORD; let him deliver him; let him rescue him, for he delights in him!”

And verse 35 they sneer up at him, saying, “He saved others; let him save himself, if he is the Christ of God, his Chosen One!”

Remember the temptations of Jesus particularly prepared him for, yes, his ministry of 3yrs, but this particular moment. He is laying down his life voluntarily, and how difficult that is when he does truly have the POWER to make the suffering end…But he lays down his life to save us.

[36] The soldiers also mocked him, coming up and offering him sour wine [37] and saying, “If you are the King of the Jews, save yourself!” [38] There was also an inscription over him, “This is the King of the Jews.”

All the events are swirling around the two thieves on either side of Jesus….IS he the king of the Jews? Is he the Christ of God? That has been the claim these last 3 years? That is what all the miracles I have heard about would suggest

And that brings us to our main text, where Luke highlights how one of them wants in on the action of the rulers, the soldiers, and a dying man to “rail” against him. And sparks an argument between two dying men.

#2 What The Argument Reveals? (v.39-42).

[39] One of the criminals who were hanged railed at him, saying, “Are you not the Christ? Save yourself and us!” [40] But the other rebuked him, saying, “Do you not fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? [41] And we indeed justly [righteously] judged, for we are receiving the due reward of our deeds; but this man has done nothing wrong.”

Hendrickson notes 5 truths here that lead to this man’s conversion

“Do you not fear God” – do you not Fear falling unprepared into the hands of the living God (Heb. 10:31). While one mocked, the other said, We are dying! We are dying as criminals! we are about to fall into the hands of a just God who will punish evil. That is us, “Do you not fear, God,” and second, did you not just hear what he said, to God himself, whom he called FATHER. The Son of God just said…forgive them…

For this man had in fact just heard Jesus earlier say v. 34, “Father forgive them for they know not what they do” – If he is familiar with Jesus’ teaching at all then he knows that Jesus says, we both pray to God to forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors and now he has witnessed a cry to the Father to forgive his murderers…If they can be forgiven, can I ask Jesus for forgiveness? And would he be merciful and give it to me? Surely he might?

But to do this, he must admit his guilt, admit true reverence of a righteous judge; the other gospels tell us both men had been mocking Jesus. This man now shows FEAR of judgement, but more and better than just trembling, he shows remorse and repentance, he turns on his partner saying, “we are justly, we are righteously judged.”

To come to Christ is to admit that God is just to judge our sins. To come to Christ is to recognize that he was innocent and was judged in our place. As an innocent substitute.

Jesus is merciful; He also has, as Hendrickson says, a “calm and majestic behavior.”

He is fulfilling Isaiah 53…Not physical form of beauty and majesty (53:2) No, greater and fuller than that “he was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief….we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted…upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed….He was oppressed, and he was afflicted yet he opened not his mouth… yet he opened not his mouth. There is indeed a calm majesty to Jesus.

We capture this truth when we say he suffered as the Lion and the Lamb. The lamb in humility and bearing our sins. But a Lion in majesty…The king who offers pardons to enemies…Who holds court with this thief? The thief is not merely talking to a lamb being slain, he is coming and in spirit and heart kneeling before the throne of King Jesus, asking pardon for sin and presence in paradise before his throne forever.

Jesus was not stuck on the cross, he had legions of angels who could rescue him from the cross.

He is the King, who lays down his life as a innocent lamb…He humbles himself to death.

And the Thief has been hearing of Jesus, his powerful miracles and teaching; he heals the blind, he says he can forgive sins, he says the Kingdom of God is at hand and we must enter by childlike faith

….the Holy Spirit works in the thief’s heart to regret his mockery of who is a suffering King, dying to save a people and a kingdom for himself.

And all these things swirl in the mind and the heart of this thief to look to Christ in trust, and make a simple…impossible…request, a simple prayer…

#3 The Request, The Promise, The Proof (v. 42-46)

The Request v. 42: remember me. Remember me when you come into your kingdom…

The request Remember of Jesus echoes Exo 2:24 the Israelites call out for mercy and redemption from slavery in Egypt and we hear “God heard their groaning, and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob…” Remember me when you come into your kingdom.”

This is trust that Jesus is the Messiah, that he is the king of his kingdom, and that he can fulfill covenant promises.

Christian, today Jesus is ruling, reigning, resurrected, ascended, and sitting on the throne now as King of Kings: Eph. 3:20-21 Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, [21] to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.

And Jesus gives his promise: verse 43: “Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise.”

Jesus will remember him, he is faithful to the covenant promises.

And there are at least 3 massive implications in the details of Jesus’ promise.

First, he says, Today – NOT the distant future, TODAY!

Second: Is it today you will start your soul sleep? Unconscious, etherealness, or today you will fade back into nirvanabecause everything is ultimately one, today you will be happy but no longer you?

By No Means –Second, you yourself, still being you, will be truly with me.

Where will we spend our eternity? With Jesus, and all who trust in him, with the angels, with our heavenly father,

And Third, WHERE? in Paradise. Paradise.

Heaven. Heaven, infinitely complex and mysterious and YET…I would argue It’s as simple as the children’s song, “Heaven is a wonderful place, filled with glory and grace, I want to see my savior’s face, heaven is a wonderful place, I want to go there…”

ILL: Story: Phone call at Lifeway Christian Bookstore (in the back, people always sent calls back to me) “Will I know other people?”

You will be you. You will be loved, and he will be the beloved. And we will be at peace. No more sorrow, no more tears.

Now brief caveat: heaven currently is not yet consummated and fulfilled to the extent after Christ returns because then it will be the NHNE, and we will have resurrected bodies, and it will be a heavenly earth, and an earthy heaven. NO sin. No death. No evil. Life. Goodness. Beauty. The glorious presence of God which we will not exhaust in 10,000 10,000 years.

The thief sorrowed for his sins, because he saw Jesus was his savior and king, that Jesus was kind and ready to offer pardon, even to a thief, robber, or even an insurrectionist who deserved to die.

v. 44-46 as our passage offers a two-fold proof that Jesus can keep this promise.

Creation itself is trembling at the event in a publicly verifiable way

And the symbol of the veil in the temple being torn in two.

[44] It was now about the sixth hour, and there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour, [45] while the sun’s light failed. And the curtain of the temple was torn in two (Mark 1:10 heaven torn open). [46] Then Jesus, calling out with a loud voice, said, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit!” And having said this, he breathed his last.

Three things

First, the sun fails as the wrath of God is poured out on Jesus assumes the weight of the sins of people from every tribe, tongue, and nation – bearing the sins of his bride, the church.

Second, the temple is torn in two, showing that nothing separates us from the presence of a Holy God, if we are in Christ Jesus. Jesus makes his people Holy and able to simply approach the throne of grace. The old covenant passes away with the sacrificial system, and we now worship through Christ Jesus alone.

Last, Jesus lays down his life. Jesus has strength—with a loud cry—He commits his spirit, his soul to the Father, and He finishes his mission, voluntarily laying down his life.

Three days later, the body of Christ is raised from the dead, reunited with his Spirit, and he spends some time commissioning and strengthening the apostles and initial 70 disciples, giving the great commission, and ascending to heaven, where he is presently physically reigning as Head of his Church.

The Church has, from then until now, been filled by the Spirit, proclaiming Christ, and we will stay on mission, in fellowship, and in communion with Christ until he returns.

But that day, some 2,000 years ago, that thief died. After repenting of his sin and looking to Christ. And that same day, he was in paradise. It is astounding, and implications abound that guard a precious truth.

#4 Guarding the Truth of Christ Alone against common errors.

The Thief on the Cross, put his trust in Jesus Christ and believed in him; that in Christ he would be forgiven and brought into the presence of a holy God in heaven.

He was accepted to be WITH Christ Jesus and stand Justified before the throne of grace.

First truth we must keep Justification clear in our minds from our Sanctification. Sanctification is the ongoing work of the Holy Spirit to make us more and more like Jesus because we are justified and united to Christ. That takes work, effort, and involves in our sanctification the ordinary means of word, prayer, and sacraments…

But many people have taken Sanctification and viewed it not as a fruit of salvation but as a root. Sanctification is squashed back into our justification. So first distinguish justification and sanctification. Next, remember the sufficiency of Christ and the simplicity of Christ in the new covenant age.

In the New Covenant, in the gospel-age, there is a much greater simplicity to how God works in his people; greater simplicity but also more pervasive power.

Greater Simplicity: there is no more sacrificial system or priests or temple or 20 different kinds of feast days, no more ceremonial law (read all of Heb. 7-10).

More Pervasive Power: All are now indwelt by the Holy Spirit and equipped with his gifts, graces, and callings.

This means we ought to guard 3 areas:

First, Always point faith and assurance to Christ alone — not to rituals, leaders, or feelings. Is this ritual scriptural? Are the leaders servants of Christ or elevated beyond scripture? Is faith a feeling or a trust in a person?

Am I doing this because I am saved in Christ OR am I starting to believe this IS what saves me? Christ is the center and the motivation of holiness and devotion. This is what Solus Christus guards.

We can define Solus Christus this way: “Jesus Christ is the only savior of sinners and his atoning sacrifice is sufficient to save them.” – Dr. James Anderson

Acts 4:12 “And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”

The Author of Hebrews drives home that Jesus’ sacrifice as our savior is sufficient to save you.

“When Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things that have come...he entered once for all into the holy places, not by means of the blood of goats and calves but by means of his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption.

His work is entirely different from the complex, and repeated OT sacrificial system with its priests and rituals…Heb. 10 says, “Since the law has but a shadow of the good things to come... it can never, by the same sacrifices that are continually offered every year, make perfect those who draw near”… “Every priest stands daily at his service, offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God” (Heb. 10:11–12). It is finished.

You have the bulletin inserts if you want to read some of the other verses and statements on how the covenant of grace is simpler…But Let us plainly state a couple of the ways we can violate this principle. I want a firm alarm bell In your mind to violations of what the Thief was promised by Jesus. “Today you will be with me in paradise.”

So Alarm bells:

Any Mediator Other Than Christ such as prayers to saints, Mary, or angels. Jesus saves alone. Not Jesus + saints, their merits, or Jesus + prayers through Mary. Christ alone.

Adding things to “stay saved” such as penance, indulgences, or ritual acts for forgiveness. Simply go to Christ repenting of sin to him alone. And he will forgive you. Christ certainly gives us the Lord’s supper to strengthen our faith and help us but not to give us extra righteousness.

This is very different than Mass as earning grace or in and of themselves conveying grace. Or people that insist you must be baptized not as an act of obedience but as what saves you. The thief on the cross was never baptized… Though certainly if given time he would have loved to have been baptized one day.

We cannot says Baptism wipes the slate clean or changes our nature regenerating us. It represents the work of the Holy Spirit it doesn’t do the work of the spirit or automatically cause it. It is a sign and seal and not tied to the moment or automatically rendered by a priest.

Mass, baptism saving, praying to Mary as a co-redeemer those are obvious but what are more subtle ways we can abandon “Christ Alone” and not trust in his full and final sacrifice onour behalf, his righteousness…

Confidence in prayer, fasting, meditation, or emotional devotion as if they contribute to salvation or are guilt trips that feel like they are re-saving us after we sin…

In Christ they certainly are pleasing fruits of our salvation. But when you feel inadequate go straight to Christ in prayer in repentance and asking him for strength not to the complicated prayer rules and emotionally manipulated techniques.

As those who love the Lord and what he has done for us let us remember

Always point faith and assurance to Christ alone indwelt by the Holy Spirit, assuring us we are Christ’s and he is ours and we are sons and daughters of our Father in heaven…in Christ the Son.

The thief on the Cross clearly displays Christ Alone Saves Sinners.

The hymn writer Augustus Toplady once again proclaims this well:

1 Rock of Ages, cleft for melet me hide myself in thee;let the water and the blood,from thy riven side which flowed,be of sin the double cure,cleanse me from its guilt and pow’r.2 Not the labors of my handscan fulfil thy law’s demands;could my zeal no respite know,could my tears for ever flow,all for sin could not atone;thou must save, and thou alone.3 Nothing in my hand I bring,simply to thy cross I cling;naked, come to thee for dress;helpless, look to thee for grace;foul, I to the Fountain fly;wash me, Savior, or I die.

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