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Deathbed confessions can be an interesting revelation to the public.
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The more famous the individual, the more stunning, at times, the confession.
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I have read that the outlaw Jesse James James confessed to a number of murders that had never been tied to him from his deathbed.
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He, in his final moments, regretted the crimes, the disgrace that he had brought his family.
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2018 was an interesting confession by a man named Chris Sperling.
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He confessed that his famous photograph of the Loch Ness Monster was fabricated.
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He'd used a toy submarine.
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Attached to it a long clay neck and small head.
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That photograph created a firestorm, didn't it?
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In fact, I read of one man who devoted 20 years of his life to gathering proof of that monster's existence.
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Well, at the age of 94, dying of cancer, chris Sperling confessed the truth that it was all make-believe.
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Then there's the confession that solved a murder mystery in 2009.
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I came across this James Brewer.
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He'd already moved away from his hometown, changed his identity.
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He'd gotten married, gotten involved in the church and in his community.
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He'd gotten involved in the church and in his community.
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Thirty years later, he suffered a serious stroke, was told that he had just a little time to live.
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He called for the police.
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He gave them all the details they needed to solve the mystery.
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The only problem for James was that after his admission, instead of dying, he completely recovered.
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He's now serving time in Tennessee.
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Deathbed confessions work out a lot better if you die after you make the confession.
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I don't believe there's any better known deathbed confession, so to speak, than the one God included in the record of Scripture.
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In fact, just about everybody you meet on the street, whether they know much about the Bible or not, whether they've been in church or not, they can tell you something about that man hanging on the cross next to Jesus.
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We call him the dying thief.
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We're in Luke, chapter 23,.
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So if you go back there with me, augustine wrote in the late 4th century that this scene is where the cross becomes a classroom, and I would agree.
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This is where the Lord Jesus is going to teach some wonderful truths about the gospel from this man's dying confession.
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Now I want to organize our study today of this amazing demonstration of the gospel under five headings.
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I want to call the first one the Arrangement, luke 23, verse 32.
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Two others, who were criminals, were led away to be put to death with him.
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Two others, who were criminals, were led away to be put to death with him, and when they came to the place that is called the skull, there, they crucified him.
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That's Jesus and the criminals, one on his right and one on his left.
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One on his right, that would be the Republicans, one on his left, that would be the Republicans and one on his left, that would be the Democrats.
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They both needed saving.
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By the way, we're never told which one gets saved.
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What we do know is they both needed it, and I couldn't help but think of that with the recent election when I read this text.
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By the way, that's the mission of the church not to build a party, but to deliver the pardon from the Prince of Peace.
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Now, we're not told here who arranged for Jesus to be crucified with these two men, these two partners in crime.
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Luke refers to them with a common word for criminal.
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Luke refers to them with a common word for criminal.
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Matthew calls them robbers.
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You could translate that in our vernacular gangsters.
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They were members of an organized group of men who were willing to murder Romans as well as Jews, who collaborated with Rome.
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They hated Rome.
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The gospel of Mark used the same word for these two men as he does for Barabbas.
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They were more than likely involved with Barabbas.
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These men all had blood on their hands Could have been the Jewish leaders who arranged for Jesus to be crucified with criminals, sort of you know.
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One final way to humiliate him, to effectively declare that Jesus was no better than these wicked men.
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What we do know is that this arrangement fulfills prophecy.
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Isaiah wrote hundreds of years beforehand that the suffering servant, the Messiah, would be numbered with the transgressors Isaiah 53, 12.
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In fact.
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Mark in his gospel account doesn't want us to miss the connection, so he puts it this way.
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And with him they crucified two robbers, one on his right and one on his
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left, and the scripture was fulfilled that says this is Isaiah.
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He was numbered with the transgressors.
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This is a reminder that man at his worst can't overrule what God is fulfilling in his word.
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This is another reminder that mankind, ultimately, is not in control of history.
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Yes, these people are responsible.
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They're not robots.
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They're accountable, they're exercising their free will.
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But God is moving everything according to his divine arrangement, in the mystery of his sovereign providence.
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There are no accidents here, just appointments.
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Jesus isn't just going to die.
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He's about to have a divine appointment with a man who doesn't have very long to live Now, following the arrangement.
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Notice next the abuse.
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Luke goes on here in verse 35 to record and the people stood by watching.
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But the rulers scoffed at him, saying he saved others.
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Let him save himself If he is the Christ, that is, the anointed of God, his chosen one.
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Matthew's gospel adds that the religious leaders, the Sanhedrin, if you can imagine, and the Supreme Court justices of Israel, they're out here as well.
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Matthew writes the Sanhedrin, if you can imagine, and the Supreme Court justices of Israel, they're out here as well.
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Matthew writes they mocked him, saying he saved others.
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He cannot save himself.
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Let him come down now from the cross and we will believe in him, for he said I am the Son of God.
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Anybody who says Jesus never said he was the Son of God.
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They just haven't read the Bible.
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They certainly got it.
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By the way, the justices of Israel's Supreme Court didn't leave their homes and walk up to a crucifixion scene to mock somebody they put on death row.
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This is highly unusual Supreme Court justices.
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To this day they don't crowd the witness room before the lethal injection to watch someone die.
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They refuse to release at the midnight hour.
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They're certainly not going to show up to mock him, but they did.
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They just can't leave Jesus alone.
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This is demonically inspired hatred.
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Matthew records that even the two criminals initially joined in mocking, in this abusive treatment of Jesus.
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Even the Roman soldiers won't leave him alone.
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Luke adds here verse 36, the soldiers also mocked him, him coming up and offering him sour wine and saying if you are the king of the Jews, save yourself.
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Then Luke reminds us that attached above Jesus was the placard written in three languages so everybody could read it this is Jesus, the king of the Jews.
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Now, that placard would have only invited more mockery.
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I mean, we've been waiting for our true king, but let this cross settle it once and forever.
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You, jesus, are not him.
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Now, all this mockery was meant for evil, but God, the Father's going to use it for good.
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Keep in mind these two murderers on either side of him knew very little about this Galilean rabbi.
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They'd been involved and invested in killing as many Romans as they could.
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But just think of what they're hearing now.
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Think of what they're reading and learning.
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I've just sort of put the statements together.
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This is what they're hearing he claims to be the Messiah.
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He says he is the chosen one.
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He is the son of God.
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He is the king of the Jews.
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He is the anointed Messiah.
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He saved others, this criminal.
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One of them, evidently, was studying the placard hanging above the head of Jesus.
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This is Jesus, the fuller statement, the King of the Jews.
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He's no doubt amazed that, instead of watching Jesus cursing back at the soldiers and at the judges who put him on the cross, instead of venting his fury and his rage against them for their mockery, he hears Jesus next to him repeatedly saying Father, forgive them.
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They don't know what they're doing.
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Father, forgive them.
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They don't know what they're doing.
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Father, forgive them.
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They don't know what they're doing.
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He would have been struck by all of this.
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Who prays to God as if he were his father?
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He didn't pray like that.
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Who responds with compassion to this kind of cruelty?
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He knew some of these judges.
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No doubt he would have slit some of their throats if he'd had a chance.
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They were collaborators with Rome.
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But
here's Jesus.
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Why would the Sanhedrin come up here to challenge Jesus to come down from the cross?
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Evidently he can, or they wouldn't have come to see if he would.
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Perhaps the thief is struck by the fact that these corrupt leaders are condemning a man for claiming to be the son of God.
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But listen to me.
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He's praying to God as his father.
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He's asking his father to forgive these men.
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Who does that?
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This must be true.
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I'll bet this is all true.
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The Spirit of God, by the grace of God, opens this contemplative man's eyes.
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And he once was blind.
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But now he what he sees.
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It's true.
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Now I want you to keep in mind that he's going to confess his guilt and his faith before supernatural darkness covers the earth, before the earthquake rattles everything, before these miracles of nature attest to the violation of its creator, before the centurion says surely this was the Son of God.
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Before any of that, before any of that takes place, based on what he's heard, what he reads, he arrives at this moment.
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I'll call it this moment of admission.
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Notice verse 39.
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One of the criminals who were hanged railed at him saying are you not the Christ?
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Save yourself and us.
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But the other rebuked him.
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And now this could be two hours later, three hours later, right before the darkness comes.
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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 of our deeds.
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Hear what he admits.
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He admits he's going to stand before God.
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Do you not fear God?
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He admits that he deserves the judgment of God.
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We are receiving the due reward of our deeds.
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That wasn't all he admitted the last part of verse 41, but this man, jesus, has done nothing wrong.
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He publicly admits what everyone knows is true, like that little child.
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Remember, saw that naked king parading around in his supposedly fine clothing that only sophisticated people could truly see, until he finally blurts out the emperor has what?
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No clothes.
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I mean, here you have the most unlikely person on the planet delivering the final blow to the Supreme Court justices, to the nation Israel, to the Roman government.
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This man has done nothing wrong, let me tell you.
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This deathbed confession was an incredible declaration.
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But he's also admitting, and more personally, his own sin and guilt before a holy God he knows he's about to meet.
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I could summarize his deathbed statements I'm a guilty sinner, I deserve to die for my sins.
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I will give an account to God as my judge, and I don't have a prayer.
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Oh wait, I've got one.
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By the way, have you said something like that to God?
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I'm a guilty sinner, I deserve to die for my sin.
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I deserve to be judged by God.
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I don't have any hope.
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I'm helpless.
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But I've got one prayer.
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Something is happening in this hardened criminal's heart, something marvelous, something magnificent, something miraculous, something miraculous His cross becomes a classroom.
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He's going to demonstrate genuine confession, repentance and trust.
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So, following this admission, he makes his appeal.
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We'll call it that the appeal, verse 42.
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He makes his appeal.
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We'll call it that the appeal, verse 42.
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And he said Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.
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One of the greatest statements of faith you'll ever read.
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He doesn't say Jesus, remember me if you come into your kingdom.
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Look, lord, if everything works out and you really do have a kingdom and you come with that kingdom, would you remember me?
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Oh, no, no, no, no, lord, I believe you are the king of Israel and you have a kingdom coming in the future.
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Can you imagine?
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This thief has become a premillennialist right here.
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There's a kingdom coming, lord, let me be a part of it.
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Can he be serious?
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The evidence doesn't match this statement.
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Jesus is not heading for a throne.
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He's hanging on a cross.
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He's not wearing a diadem, he's wearing a crown of thorns.
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He's not welcomed by the nation.
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He's being rejected by the nation.
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You have a dying man believing in a dying king.
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Is this thief
blind?
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Oh no, I once was blind, but now I see.
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Maybe you're saying in your heart today you know, if I had a little more evidence that Jesus was the son of God and the coming king of a future kingdom, well I'd believe in him.
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No, you wouldn't, my dear friend.
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You do not lack evidence, you lack interest, you lack willingness to acknowledge what you intuitively know he's the true king and you're going to meet God one day and you're not ready.
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So, contrary to the evidence, in spite of the lack of evidence, in spite of the lack of evidence, the thief looks over at this blood-caked, beaten, swollen-faced, dying Jesus and says I believe you are the long-awaited king, and when you come with your kingdom one day, would you remember me?
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Wow, I have read that in ancient days this expression was used on tombstones.
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People wouldn't write their names there, just the phrase from this dying thief, simply this they'd write remember me, hopeless, helpless, guilty, with only a few hours to live.
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Lord, remember me.
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Copernicus, who turned the world upside down, said on his deathbed oh Father, don't give me the grace you gave Paul, don't give me the grace you gave Peter.
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Give me the mercy you gave to this dying thief, just remember me.
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And to that Jesus gives this wonderful answer Verse 43,.
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Here's the answer.
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And he, jesus, said to him truly, I say to you today you will be with me in paradise.
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Now, oh, we're going to do this in one sermon, okay, but there's so much here.
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Get the irony of this answer Jesus is in the process of being crucified for being a liar, an imposter.
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The Supreme Court has unanimously determined that he's blasphemed by claiming to lie about who he was the Son of God.
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Now, they're listening to this exchange.
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Remember, they're all around the cross mocking him.
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They're listening to this exchange.
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Remember, they're all around the cross mocking him.
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They're listening to this exchange.
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Lord, would you remember me when you come in your kingdom?
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And they would expect Jesus at this point to say you know, it's time for my deathbed confession.
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I know I've said all those things in the past, but now that I'm going to die, I probably ought to come clean.
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I'm sorry for making claims like that.
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Don't trust in me.
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I got a little carried away.
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Pal, I can't do anything for you.
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That photograph of me as a Messiah was a fake, I know.
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Jesus says, truly, I'm going to tell you the truth.
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Here's the truth.
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I am who I said I am.
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Today you're going to enjoy paradise with me.
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In the original language, in the construction of the Greek language, the word today is placed forward for emphasis Today.
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Today you will be with me in paradise.
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That brief statement shatters all kinds of false teaching.
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Let me quickly rehearse five of them.
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One it destroys the false doctrine of baptismal regeneration.
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That is the belief.
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You got to be baptized in order to be saved.
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A convert hanging on the cross couldn't go through any kind of Jewish ceremonial cleansing.
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He couldn't follow the Old Testament prophet's sign of adherence to his message, john the Baptist, and he certainly can't experience a new believer's baptism.
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Jesus didn't holler down at the Roman soldiers hey well, why don't you guys go get a bucket of water?
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We got to get this guy wet.
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Jesus didn't say to him after you've been baptized, I can assure you you get into the kingdom.
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Secondly, jesus's answer destroys the false teaching of soul sleep.
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This false doctrine teaches that believers are in a state of unconsciousness between death and the resurrection.
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The apostle Paul already told us to be absent from the body.
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Speaking of death is to be present with the Lord.
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2 Corinthians, chapter 5, verse 8.
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Jesus is soon going to say from the cross Father, into thy hands I commit my spirit.
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There is no limbo out there.
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There is a sudden, conscious transition from earth to heaven immediately following death.
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Jesus didn't say to this thief after your soul has been unconscious for at least 2,000 years and counting, I'll bring you in no, today.
00:23:35.519 --> 00:23:36.984
Today.
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Third, this answer destroys the false teaching of purgatory, false doctrine that after death you go through the fire of purgatory in order to be purged, to be purified for the kingdom of heaven.
00:23:54.319 --> 00:24:00.703
Well, that means this thief's going to spend a long time in
purgatory because of his criminal record.
00:24:00.703 --> 00:24:10.701
Now Jesus makes this man a wonderful example that upon salvation you are immediately prepared and purified.
00:24:10.701 --> 00:24:18.160
In fact, the apostle Paul emphasized this truth when he wrote to the Colossians who are still living that by faith in Christ they can.
00:24:18.160 --> 00:24:26.843
Now Paul writes give thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints and light.
00:24:26.843 --> 00:24:37.917
He has delivered us from the domain of darkness already, transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption to forgiveness of sins.
00:24:37.917 --> 00:24:41.204
You are not waiting to be qualified for heaven.
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You have been qualified by the sacrifice of Christ.
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You're not paying for your sin.
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Jesus paid for them all.
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There's another.
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The Lord's answer here destroys the false teaching that there is no life after death.
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Jesus promises paradise to this dying thief, a promise of eternal life.
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The New Testament writers used paradise as a synonym for heaven.
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On two occasions.
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The Apostle Paul talked about being caught up to paradise, where he was given a tour of heaven 2 Corinthians, chapter 12.
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John describes heaven in Revelation, chapter 2, as a paradise where the tree of life bears fruit for the redeemed to enjoy.
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The word paradise would have been understood by this man.
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It's a Persian word which means a walled garden.
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In fact, when a king in the ancient days wished to do one of his subjects a very high honor, he bestowed on them the title companion of the garden, companion of the garden, and that meant that that individual had access.
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He had a key, so to speak.
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He could go in and he could walk with the king.
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Jesus is using a term this man would understand You're going to walk with me in my royal garden today.
00:26:19.750 --> 00:26:22.375
Today.
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I love the connection that Warren Wiersbe made from this text when he wrote that the first Adam became a thief and was cast out of paradise.
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The last Adam.
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Jesus Christ turns now to a thief and promises him a garden, a paradise.
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That leads me to expose another false teaching of faith, plus works for salvation.
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Arthur Pink, in his wonderful little book on these sayings, wrote what could this thief do for Christ?
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He could not walk in the paths of righteousness.
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There were nails through his feet.
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He could not perform any good works for there were nails through both hands.
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He could not turn over a new leaf or promise to live a better life.
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All he could do was die.
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Paul made it clear.
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We read a number of verses earlier, together as an assembly.
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Paul writes, not by works of righteousness, which you have done, but according to his mercy.
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He saved us.
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Titus 3.5.
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So think of it.
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This thief couldn't offer one sacrifice in the temple.
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He couldn't get baptized.
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He couldn't give money to the Lord.
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He had no time to clean up his act.
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He couldn't even prove the reality of his repentance by fruit, spiritual fruit.
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He couldn't set his criminal record straight.
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He couldn't make restitution to the Roman government.
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He couldn't apologize to the families of those whom he murdered.
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He couldn't do one thing for God, country, family, mankind.
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He literally couldn't do anything but die.
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Except this Before he died.
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Do what we need to do Trust in the royalty of Christ, our king.
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Let me make two final observations here.
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From this classroom on Mount Calvary, steve illustrates two lasting truths for us.
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First, it's this it's the truth that as long as you are alive, it's not too late to turn to Christ.
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Jesus doesn't say you know, you kind of waited too long, sorry.
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This dying thief turned to Christ on the last day of his life.
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He's the most unlikely convert.
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This is the most unlikely place for conversion, and he's believing in a rather unlikely king.
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And all of it near the end of his life, by the way.
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That's why we should never say that we know for sure someone went to hell.
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We don't know what transpired between them and the Lord at the last possible moment.
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Samuel Johnson was the famous author who compiled the dictionary of the English language in 1755.
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Well known In his day, he was a committed believer.
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I'm not a believer, but he was fond of quoting a hopeful
epitaph for people who felt they might have waited too long to ask God for mercy, and he would quote for them this little couplet.
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The couplet is imagined as being a description of a man who's fatally thrown from his horse to the ground.
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And the couplet goes like this Between the stirrup and the ground, I mercy asked, I mercy found One or two seconds.
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I mean between the stirrup and the ground, I mercy asked, I mercy found.
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Now listen, don't fall into the trap of thinking you'll wait until you're in the air to ask, and don't think that you'll be like this dying thief.
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I'm going to trust Christ.
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You know, in the last moment I'm living my life.
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I don't want to give it up.
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I'm going to wait.
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I'm going to wait until the last moment.
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And that's because you don't know when the last moment will be.
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You don't know the day when you will die.
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Why wait?
00:31:37.971 --> 00:31:51.704
One author writes the dying thief wasn't saved at the last opportunity, but at his first opportunity.
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How many opportunities have you had, my friend?
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Why not accept this one if you haven't already?
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Here's the second truth revealed in this deathbed conversion no one is beyond the reach of God's grace.
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No one is too far gone.
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I mean, if there's anybody who's too far gone, it's this guy Heartened, calloused, a killer.
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He's beyond the reach of God's grace.
00:32:30.027 --> 00:32:39.137
Jesus is teaching us no, no, no, even here, even now, he can be saved.
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Perhaps you've heard of Mel Trotter, the man many would have considered too far gone.
00:32:51.711 --> 00:33:01.280
He was an alcoholic who cared only about one thing in life and that was his next drink.
00:33:01.280 --> 00:33:06.346
Even the needs of his wife and family meant nothing to him.
00:33:06.346 --> 00:33:11.807
In 1897, his little boy became deathly ill.
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He was given by his wife just enough money to go buy the medicine the child needed.
00:33:18.174 --> 00:33:27.901
Trotter went out and, instead of going to purchase medicine, went on a 10-day drinking binge, used up all the money.
00:33:27.901 --> 00:33:34.327
When he returned home discovered that his son had just died.
00:33:36.115 --> 00:33:48.547
Before the funeral, mel Trotter slipped in and stole the shoes from his son's body and pawned them off for another drink.
00:33:48.547 --> 00:33:55.286
But he was filled with grief and shame.
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He left home, hopped on a train car, arrived in Chicago during a bitter snowstorm.
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Still he sold his shoes for another drink.
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Now he's barefoot and he's broke.
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He's at the end and he says that he walked toward Lake Michigan where he was going to drown himself and end his life.
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He's going to drown himself and end his life.
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But his path led him past the Pacific Garden Mission you ever heard of that place and he heard singing.
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He stopped Someone at the door, invited him to come in and when the mission director saw Mel walk in, he actually stopped everyone from singing and he said I want us to begin praying for that man, that barefoot man.
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And they did.
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And that night Mel Trotter heard the gospel and believed and believed.
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Three years later, in 1900, reconciled with his wife and family, he started his own what he called rescue mission.
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And until he died in 1940, he started 60 more, winning thousands of people to Christ.
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Even Mel Trotter, I mean, how low can you get?
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Was not too far gone.
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No one is, including you and me.
00:35:40.487 --> 00:35:41.148
Why?
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Why?
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Because there is a fountain filled with blood drawn from Emmanuel's veins and sinners, plunged beneath that flood, lose all their guilty stain.
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That dying thief rejoiced to see that fountain in his day.
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Thief rejoiced to see that fountain in his day.
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And there have I, though vile, as he washed all my sins away.
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Thank you,