00:00:25Deathbed Confessions and the Dying Thief
00:14:54Dying Thief's Confession and Salvation
00:32:04Hope in Redemption's Reach
MENGENAI EPISOD INI
What if the final moments of life reveal the most profound truths about guilt, redemption, and faith? Journey with us as we uncover the chilling deathbed confessions of figures like outlaw Jesse James and Chris Sperling, the man behind the Loch Ness Monster hoax. Their admissions shake historical narratives and challenge our understanding of truth and myth. We also recount the gripping tale of James Brewer, whose unexpected survival turned his confession of a decades-old crime into a confrontation with justice. These stories open the door to an age-old discussion on human nature, morality, and the redemptive power that can emerge even in life's last breath.
Discover a message of hope and salvation from a place of despair as we reflect on the story of the thief crucified beside Jesus. His last-minute appeal to Jesus challenges the boundaries of theological doctrine and emphasizes the themes of grace and redemption. We also explore the powerful transformation of Mel Trotter, a man who found grace at his lowest point and dedicated his life to helping others find the same redemption. Through these narratives, we celebrate the timeless truth that no person is beyond the reach of redemption, underscored by the cleansing sacrifice of Emmanuel and the transformative power of faith. Prepare to be inspired and challenged as we unravel these stories of remarkable redemption.
Discover more wisdom from God's Word: https://www.wisdomonline.org
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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 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.
00:22:02.406 --> 00:22:03.828
That is the belief.
00:22:03.828 --> 00:22:05.699
You got to be baptized in order to be saved.
00:22:05.699 --> 00:22:10.258
A convert hanging on the cross couldn't go through any kind of Jewish ceremonial cleansing.
00:22:10.258 --> 00:22:20.028
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.
00:22:20.028 --> 00:22:26.042
Jesus didn't holler down at the Roman soldiers hey well, why don't you guys go get a bucket of water?
00:22:26.042 --> 00:22:28.855
We got to get this guy wet.
00:22:28.855 --> 00:22:36.935
Jesus didn't say to him after you've been baptized, I can assure you you get into the kingdom.
00:22:38.179 --> 00:22:41.847
Secondly, jesus's answer destroys the false teaching of soul sleep.
00:22:41.847 --> 00:22:50.540
This false doctrine teaches that believers are in a state of unconsciousness between death and the resurrection.
00:22:50.540 --> 00:22:55.394
The apostle Paul already told us to be absent from the body.
00:22:55.394 --> 00:22:58.241
Speaking of death is to be present with the Lord.
00:22:58.241 --> 00:22:59.886
2 Corinthians, chapter 5, verse 8.
00:22:59.886 --> 00:23:05.084
Jesus is soon going to say from the cross Father, into thy hands I commit my spirit.
00:23:05.084 --> 00:23:10.385
There is no limbo out there.
00:23:10.385 --> 00:23:19.703
There is a sudden, conscious transition from earth to heaven immediately following death.
00:23:19.703 --> 00:23:35.519
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.
00:23:40.596 --> 00:23:54.319
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.
00:24:41.204 --> 00:24:45.999
You have been qualified by the sacrifice of Christ.
00:24:45.999 --> 00:24:50.184
You're not paying for your sin.
00:24:50.184 --> 00:24:54.451
Jesus paid for them all.
00:24:54.451 --> 00:24:56.956
There's another.
00:24:56.956 --> 00:25:01.267
The Lord's answer here destroys the false teaching that there is no life after death.
00:25:01.267 --> 00:25:10.108
Jesus promises paradise to this dying thief, a promise of eternal life.
00:25:11.234 --> 00:25:16.444
The New Testament writers used paradise as a synonym for heaven.
00:25:16.444 --> 00:25:18.690
On two occasions.
00:25:18.690 --> 00:25:25.682
The Apostle Paul talked about being caught up to paradise, where he was given a tour of heaven 2 Corinthians, chapter 12.
00:25:25.682 --> 00:25:34.895
John describes heaven in Revelation, chapter 2, as a paradise where the tree of life bears fruit for the redeemed to enjoy.
00:25:34.895 --> 00:25:40.646
The word paradise would have been understood by this man.
00:25:40.646 --> 00:25:49.949
It's a Persian word which means a walled garden.
00:25:49.949 --> 00:26:04.249
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.
00:26:04.249 --> 00:26:12.276
He had a key, so to speak.
00:26:12.276 --> 00:26:13.999
He could go in and he could walk with the king.
00:26:13.999 --> 00:26:19.750
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.
00:26:25.914 --> 00:26:33.727
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.
00:26:33.727 --> 00:26:35.889
The last Adam.
00:26:35.889 --> 00:26:45.289
Jesus Christ turns now to a thief and promises him a garden, a paradise.
00:26:45.289 --> 00:26:54.028
That leads me to expose another false teaching of faith, plus works for salvation.
00:26:54.028 --> 00:27:01.935
Arthur Pink, in his wonderful little book on these sayings, wrote what could this thief do for Christ?
00:27:01.935 --> 00:27:04.963
He could not walk in the paths of righteousness.
00:27:04.963 --> 00:27:06.326
There were nails through his feet.
00:27:06.326 --> 00:27:12.244
He could not perform any good works for there were nails through both hands.
00:27:12.244 --> 00:27:17.162
He could not turn over a new leaf or promise to live a better life.
00:27:17.162 --> 00:27:20.711
All he could do was die.
00:27:20.711 --> 00:27:25.203
Paul made it clear.
00:27:25.203 --> 00:27:30.067
We read a number of verses earlier, together as an assembly.
00:27:30.067 --> 00:27:37.721
Paul writes, not by works of righteousness, which you have done, but according to his mercy.
00:27:37.721 --> 00:27:39.163
He saved us.
00:27:39.163 --> 00:27:40.626
Titus 3.5.
00:27:40.626 --> 00:27:41.167
So think of it.
00:27:41.817 --> 00:27:45.246
This thief couldn't offer one sacrifice in the temple.
00:27:45.246 --> 00:27:47.979
He couldn't get baptized.
00:27:47.979 --> 00:27:50.286
He couldn't give money to the Lord.
00:27:50.286 --> 00:27:52.519
He had no time to clean up his act.
00:27:52.519 --> 00:27:58.139
He couldn't even prove the reality of his repentance by fruit, spiritual fruit.
00:27:58.139 --> 00:28:01.446
He couldn't set his criminal record straight.
00:28:01.446 --> 00:28:05.902
He couldn't make restitution to the Roman government.
00:28:05.902 --> 00:28:09.648
He couldn't apologize to the families of those whom he murdered.
00:28:09.648 --> 00:28:17.888
He couldn't do one thing for God, country, family, mankind.
00:28:17.888 --> 00:28:22.145
He literally couldn't do anything but die.
00:28:22.145 --> 00:28:30.263
Except this Before he died.
00:28:30.263 --> 00:28:40.008
Do what we need to do Trust in the royalty of Christ, our king.
00:28:42.541 --> 00:28:44.606
Let me make two final observations here.
00:28:44.606 --> 00:28:55.985
From this classroom on Mount Calvary, steve illustrates two lasting truths for us.
00:28:55.985 --> 00:29:04.028
First, it's this it's the truth that as long as you are alive, it's not too late to turn to Christ.
00:29:04.028 --> 00:29:10.845
Jesus doesn't say you know, you kind of waited too long, sorry.
00:29:10.845 --> 00:29:20.106
This dying thief turned to Christ on the last day of his life.
00:29:20.106 --> 00:29:21.821
He's the most unlikely convert.
00:29:21.821 --> 00:29:29.105
This is the most unlikely place for conversion, and he's believing in a rather unlikely king.
00:29:29.105 --> 00:29:34.635
And all of it near the end of his life, by the way.
00:29:34.635 --> 00:29:39.307
That's why we should never say that we know for sure someone went to hell.
00:29:39.307 --> 00:29:50.490
We don't know what transpired between them and the Lord at the last possible moment.
00:29:54.735 --> 00:29:59.705
Samuel Johnson was the famous author who compiled the dictionary of the English language in 1755.
00:29:59.705 --> 00:30:03.100
Well known In his day, he was a committed believer.
00:30:03.100 --> 00:30:21.153
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.
00:30:21.153 --> 00:30:35.734
The couplet is imagined as being a description of a man who's fatally thrown from his horse to the ground.
00:30:35.734 --> 00:30:51.942
And the couplet goes like this Between the stirrup and the ground, I mercy asked, I mercy found One or two seconds.
00:30:51.942 --> 00:31:00.661
I mean between the stirrup and the ground, I mercy asked, I mercy found.
00:31:04.537 --> 00:31:16.645
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.
00:31:16.645 --> 00:31:18.221
I'm going to trust Christ.
00:31:18.221 --> 00:31:21.502
You know, in the last moment I'm living my life.
00:31:21.502 --> 00:31:22.424
I don't want to give it up.
00:31:22.424 --> 00:31:23.106
I'm going to wait.
00:31:23.106 --> 00:31:25.343
I'm going to wait until the last moment.
00:31:25.343 --> 00:31:28.679
And that's because you don't know when the last moment will be.
00:31:28.679 --> 00:31:33.264
You don't know the day when you will die.
00:31:33.264 --> 00:31:37.971
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.
00:31:51.704 --> 00:31:56.664
How many opportunities have you had, my friend?
00:31:56.664 --> 00:32:02.807
Why not accept this one if you haven't already?
00:32:04.695 --> 00:32:13.078
Here's the second truth revealed in this deathbed conversion no one is beyond the reach of God's grace.
00:32:13.078 --> 00:32:15.605
No one is too far gone.
00:32:15.605 --> 00:32:24.280
I mean, if there's anybody who's too far gone, it's this guy Heartened, calloused, a killer.
00:32:24.280 --> 00:32:30.027
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.
00:32:41.661 --> 00:32:51.711
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.
00:33:11.807 --> 00:33:18.174
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.
00:33:55.286 --> 00:34:05.767
He left home, hopped on a train car, arrived in Chicago during a bitter snowstorm.
00:34:05.767 --> 00:34:12.188
Still he sold his shoes for another drink.
00:34:12.188 --> 00:34:16.323
Now he's barefoot and he's broke.
00:34:16.323 --> 00:34:26.186
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.
00:34:26.186 --> 00:34:30.454
He's going to drown himself and end his life.
00:34:30.454 --> 00:34:43.329
But his path led him past the Pacific Garden Mission you ever heard of that place and he heard singing.
00:34:43.329 --> 00:34:55.329
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.
00:34:55.329 --> 00:34:57.976
And they did.
00:34:57.976 --> 00:35:08.400
And that night Mel Trotter heard the gospel and believed and believed.
00:35:08.400 --> 00:35:19.994
Three years later, in 1900, reconciled with his wife and family, he started his own what he called rescue mission.
00:35:19.994 --> 00:35:29.295
And until he died in 1940, he started 60 more, winning thousands of people to Christ.
00:35:33.186 --> 00:35:34.954
Even Mel Trotter, I mean, how low can you get?
00:35:34.954 --> 00:35:37.059
Was not too far gone.
00:35:37.059 --> 00:35:40.487
No one is, including you and me.
00:35:40.487 --> 00:35:41.148
Why?
00:35:41.148 --> 00:35:43.813
Why?
00:35:43.813 --> 00:35:59.726
Because there is a fountain filled with blood drawn from Emmanuel's veins and sinners, plunged beneath that flood, lose all their guilty stain.
00:35:59.726 --> 00:36:06.496
That dying thief rejoiced to see that fountain in his day.
00:36:06.496 --> 00:36:08.938
Thief rejoiced to see that fountain in his day.
00:36:08.938 --> 00:36:15.601
And there have I, though vile, as he washed all my sins away.
00:36:15.601 --> 00:36:17.740
Thank you,
00:00:26.509 --> 00:00:32.816
Deathbed confessions can be an interesting revelation to the public.
00:00:32.816 --> 00:00:38.373
The more famous the individual, the more stunning, at times, the confession.
00:00:38.373 --> 00:00:49.855
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.
00:00:49.855 --> 00:00:57.534
He, in his final moments, regretted the crimes, the disgrace that he had brought his family.
00:00:57.534 --> 00:01:03.852
2018 was an interesting confession by a man named Chris Sperling.
00:01:03.852 --> 00:01:09.972
He confessed that his famous photograph of the Loch Ness Monster was fabricated.
00:01:09.972 --> 00:01:13.504
He'd used a toy submarine.
00:01:13.504 --> 00:01:17.013
Attached to it a long clay neck and small head.
00:01:17.013 --> 00:01:21.605
That photograph created a firestorm, didn't it?
00:01:21.605 --> 00:01:32.592
In fact, I read of one man who devoted 20 years of his life to gathering proof of that monster's existence.
00:01:32.592 --> 00:01:43.727
Well, at the age of 94, dying of cancer, chris Sperling confessed the truth that it was all make-believe.
00:01:43.727 --> 00:01:51.051
Then there's the confession that solved a murder mystery in 2009.
00:01:51.051 --> 00:01:53.003
I came across this James Brewer.
00:01:53.003 --> 00:01:57.759
He'd already moved away from his hometown, changed his identity.
00:01:57.759 --> 00:02:01.343
He'd gotten married, gotten involved in the church and in his community.
00:02:01.343 --> 00:02:02.585
He'd gotten involved in the church and in his community.
00:02:02.585 --> 00:02:10.175
Thirty years later, he suffered a serious stroke, was told that he had just a little time to live.
00:02:10.175 --> 00:02:16.700
He called for the police.
00:02:16.700 --> 00:02:19.245
He gave them all the details they needed to solve the mystery.
00:02:19.245 --> 00:02:27.460
The only problem for James was that after his admission, instead of dying, he completely recovered.
00:02:27.460 --> 00:02:30.733
He's now serving time in Tennessee.
00:02:33.960 --> 00:02:39.140
Deathbed confessions work out a lot better if you die after you make the confession.
00:02:39.140 --> 00:02:45.468
I don't believe there's any better known deathbed confession, so to speak, than the one God included in the record of Scripture.
00:02:45.468 --> 00:02:58.245
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.
00:02:58.245 --> 00:03:02.689
We call him the dying thief.
00:03:02.689 --> 00:03:05.674
We're in Luke, chapter 23,.
00:03:05.674 --> 00:03:16.242
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.
00:03:16.242 --> 00:03:24.112
This is where the Lord Jesus is going to teach some wonderful truths about the gospel from this man's dying confession.
00:03:24.560 --> 00:03:32.354
Now I want to organize our study today of this amazing demonstration of the gospel under five headings.
00:03:32.354 --> 00:03:38.693
I want to call the first one the Arrangement, luke 23, verse 32.
00:03:38.693 --> 00:03:43.372
Two others, who were criminals, were led away to be put to death with him.
00:03:43.372 --> 00:03:51.669
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.
00:03:51.669 --> 00:03:58.016
That's Jesus and the criminals, one on his right and one on his left.
00:03:58.016 --> 00:04:06.835
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.
00:04:06.835 --> 00:04:10.447
They both needed saving.
00:04:10.447 --> 00:04:15.171
By the way, we're never told which one gets saved.
00:04:15.171 --> 00:04:21.279
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.
00:04:21.279 --> 00:04:30.173
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.
00:04:31.740 --> 00:04:38.524
Now, we're not told here who arranged for Jesus to be crucified with these two men, these two partners in crime.
00:04:38.524 --> 00:04:43.039
Luke refers to them with a common word for criminal.
00:04:43.039 --> 00:04:44.164
Luke refers to them with a common word for criminal.
00:04:44.164 --> 00:04:46.654
Matthew calls them robbers.
00:04:46.654 --> 00:04:49.819
You could translate that in our vernacular gangsters.
00:04:49.819 --> 00:05:01.072
They were members of an organized group of men who were willing to murder Romans as well as Jews, who collaborated with Rome.
00:05:01.072 --> 00:05:02.843
They hated Rome.
00:05:02.843 --> 00:05:10.024
The gospel of Mark used the same word for these two men as he does for Barabbas.
00:05:10.024 --> 00:05:13.632
They were more than likely involved with Barabbas.
00:05:13.632 --> 00:05:23.889
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.
00:05:23.889 --> 00:05:31.012
One final way to humiliate him, to effectively declare that Jesus was no better than these wicked men.
00:05:33.460 --> 00:05:38.588
What we do know is that this arrangement fulfills prophecy.
00:05:38.588 --> 00:05:50.439
Isaiah wrote hundreds of years beforehand that the suffering servant, the Messiah, would be numbered with the transgressors Isaiah 53, 12.
00:05:50.439 --> 00:05:51.767
In fact.
00:05:51.767 --> 00:05:56.839
Mark in his gospel account doesn't want us to miss the connection, so he puts it this way.
00:05:56.839 --> 00:06:07.241
And with him they crucified two robbers, one on his right and one on his left, and the scripture was fulfilled that says this is Isaiah.
00:06:07.241 --> 00:06:10.149
He was numbered with the transgressors.
00:06:10.149 --> 00:06:16.651
This is a reminder that man at his worst can't overrule what God is fulfilling in his word.
00:06:16.651 --> 00:06:23.366
This is another reminder that mankind, ultimately, is not in control of history.
00:06:23.366 --> 00:06:25.990
Yes, these people are responsible.
00:06:25.990 --> 00:06:26.891
They're not robots.
00:06:26.891 --> 00:06:31.402
They're accountable, they're exercising their free will.
00:06:31.402 --> 00:06:41.431
But God is moving everything according to his divine arrangement, in the mystery of his sovereign providence.
00:06:41.431 --> 00:06:45.471
There are no accidents here, just appointments.
00:06:45.471 --> 00:06:48.584
Jesus isn't just going to die.
00:06:48.584 --> 00:06:56.882
He's about to have a divine appointment with a man who doesn't have very long to live Now, following the arrangement.
00:06:56.981 --> 00:06:58.222
Notice next the abuse.
00:06:58.222 --> 00:07:02.945
Luke goes on here in verse 35 to record and the people stood by watching.
00:07:02.945 --> 00:07:09.329
But the rulers scoffed at him, saying he saved others.
00:07:09.329 --> 00:07:16.014
Let him save himself If he is the Christ, that is, the anointed of God, his chosen one.
00:07:16.014 --> 00:07:25.524
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.
00:07:25.524 --> 00:07:28.539
Matthew writes the Sanhedrin, if you can imagine, and the Supreme Court justices of Israel, they're out here as well.
00:07:29.319 --> 00:07:31.759
Matthew writes they mocked him, saying he saved others.
00:07:31.759 --> 00:07:33.462
He cannot save himself.
00:07:33.462 --> 00:07:42.663
Let him come down now from the cross and we will believe in him, for he said I am the Son of God.
00:07:42.663 --> 00:07:45.110
Anybody who says Jesus never said he was the Son of God.
00:07:45.110 --> 00:07:52.781
They just haven't read the Bible.
00:07:52.781 --> 00:07:53.262
They certainly got it.
00:07:53.282 --> 00:08:00.421
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.
00:08:00.421 --> 00:08:05.472
This is highly unusual Supreme Court justices.
00:08:05.472 --> 00:08:14.274
To this day they don't crowd the witness room before the lethal injection to watch someone die.
00:08:14.274 --> 00:08:16.241
They refuse to release at the midnight hour.
00:08:16.241 --> 00:08:21.627
They're certainly not going to show up to mock him, but they did.
00:08:21.627 --> 00:08:24.831
They just can't leave Jesus alone.
00:08:24.831 --> 00:08:28.795
This is demonically inspired hatred.
00:08:35.799 --> 00:08:38.865
Matthew records that even the two criminals initially joined in mocking, in this abusive treatment of Jesus.
00:08:38.865 --> 00:08:41.431
Even the Roman soldiers won't leave him alone.
00:08:41.431 --> 00:08:49.206
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.
00:08:49.206 --> 00:09:03.144
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.
00:09:03.144 --> 00:09:07.713
Now, that placard would have only invited more mockery.
00:09:07.713 --> 00:09:16.912
I mean, we've been waiting for our true king, but let this cross settle it once and forever.
00:09:16.912 --> 00:09:20.429
You, jesus, are not him.
00:09:20.429 --> 00:09:29.088
Now, all this mockery was meant for evil, but God, the Father's going to use it for good.
00:09:29.088 --> 00:09:38.769
Keep in mind these two murderers on either side of him knew very little about this Galilean rabbi.
00:09:38.769 --> 00:09:43.631
They'd been involved and invested in killing as many Romans as they could.
00:09:45.920 --> 00:09:48.686
But just think of what they're hearing now.
00:09:48.686 --> 00:09:53.674
Think of what they're reading and learning.
00:09:53.674 --> 00:09:56.803
I've just sort of put the statements together.
00:09:56.803 --> 00:10:01.612
This is what they're hearing he claims to be the Messiah.
00:10:01.612 --> 00:10:08.754
He says he is the chosen one.
00:10:08.754 --> 00:10:11.932
He is the son of God.
00:10:11.932 --> 00:10:15.813
He is the king of the Jews.
00:10:15.813 --> 00:10:19.053
He is the anointed Messiah.
00:10:19.053 --> 00:10:23.206
He saved others, this criminal.
00:10:23.206 --> 00:10:29.941
One of them, evidently, was studying the placard hanging above the head of Jesus.
00:10:29.941 --> 00:10:34.192
This is Jesus, the fuller statement, the King of the Jews.
00:10:36.116 --> 00:10:58.048
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.
00:10:58.048 --> 00:10:59.009
They don't know what they're doing.
00:10:59.009 --> 00:11:00.711
Father, forgive them.
00:11:00.711 --> 00:11:01.612
They don't know what they're doing.
00:11:01.612 --> 00:11:03.134
Father, forgive them.
00:11:03.134 --> 00:11:04.182
They don't know what they're doing.
00:11:04.182 --> 00:11:07.728
He would have been struck by all of this.
00:11:07.728 --> 00:11:12.206
Who prays to God as if he were his father?
00:11:12.206 --> 00:11:14.932
He didn't pray like that.
00:11:14.932 --> 00:11:19.923
Who responds with compassion to this kind of cruelty?
00:11:19.923 --> 00:11:22.129
He knew some of these judges.
00:11:22.129 --> 00:11:25.523
No doubt he would have slit some of their throats if he'd had a chance.
00:11:25.523 --> 00:11:27.466
They were collaborators with Rome.
00:11:27.466 --> 00:11:30.153
But here's Jesus.
00:11:30.153 --> 00:11:38.372
Why would the Sanhedrin come up here to challenge Jesus to come down from the cross?
00:11:38.372 --> 00:11:43.651
Evidently he can, or they wouldn't have come to see if he would.
00:11:46.140 --> 00:11:52.289
Perhaps the thief is struck by the fact that these corrupt leaders are condemning a man for claiming to be the son of God.
00:11:52.289 --> 00:11:53.906
But listen to me.
00:11:53.906 --> 00:11:56.500
He's praying to God as his father.
00:11:56.500 --> 00:11:59.910
He's asking his father to forgive these men.
00:11:59.910 --> 00:12:01.164
Who does that?
00:12:01.164 --> 00:12:05.785
This must be true.
00:12:05.785 --> 00:12:10.947
I'll bet this is all true.
00:12:10.947 --> 00:12:26.006
The Spirit of God, by the grace of God, opens this contemplative man's eyes.
00:12:26.006 --> 00:12:29.958
And he once was blind.
00:12:29.958 --> 00:12:34.187
But now he what he sees.
00:12:34.187 --> 00:12:36.139
It's true.
00:12:36.139 --> 00:13:02.686
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.
00:13:02.686 --> 00:13:13.178
Before any of that, before any of that takes place, based on what he's heard, what he reads, he arrives at this moment.
00:13:13.178 --> 00:13:16.687
I'll call it this moment of admission.
00:13:17.596 --> 00:13:18.494
Notice verse 39.
00:13:18.494 --> 00:13:24.518
One of the criminals who were hanged railed at him saying are you not the Christ?
00:13:24.518 --> 00:13:28.024
Save yourself and us.
00:13:28.024 --> 00:13:30.448
But the other rebuked him.
00:13:30.448 --> 00:13:36.927
And now this could be two hours later, three hours later, right before the darkness comes.
00:13:36.927 --> 00:13:49.083
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.
00:13:49.083 --> 00:13:50.645
Hear what he admits.
00:13:50.645 --> 00:13:53.656
He admits he's going to stand before God.
00:13:53.656 --> 00:13:55.740
Do you not fear God?
00:13:55.740 --> 00:13:59.024
He admits that he deserves the judgment of God.
00:13:59.024 --> 00:14:03.971
We are receiving the due reward of our deeds.
00:14:07.076 --> 00:14:13.165
That wasn't all he admitted the last part of verse 41, but this man, jesus, has done nothing wrong.
00:14:13.165 --> 00:14:22.780
He publicly admits what everyone knows is true, like that little child.
00:14:22.780 --> 00:14:33.625
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?
00:14:33.625 --> 00:14:35.300
No clothes.
00:14:35.300 --> 00:14:48.490
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.
00:14:48.490 --> 00:14:55.379
This man has done nothing wrong, let me tell you.
00:14:55.420 --> 00:14:57.954
This deathbed confession was an incredible declaration.
00:14:57.954 --> 00:15:03.462
But he's also admitting, and more personally, his own sin and guilt before a holy God he knows he's about to meet.
00:15:03.462 --> 00:15:13.763
I could summarize his deathbed statements I'm a guilty sinner, I deserve to die for my sins.
00:15:13.763 --> 00:15:22.456
I will give an account to God as my judge, and I don't have a prayer.
00:15:22.456 --> 00:15:27.625
Oh wait, I've got one.
00:15:27.625 --> 00:15:32.216
By the way, have you said something like that to God?
00:15:32.216 --> 00:15:38.063
I'm a guilty sinner, I deserve to die for my sin.
00:15:38.063 --> 00:15:40.587
I deserve to be judged by God.
00:15:40.587 --> 00:15:42.750
I don't have any hope.
00:15:42.750 --> 00:15:45.828
I'm helpless.
00:15:45.828 --> 00:15:49.201
But I've got one prayer.
00:15:49.201 --> 00:16:08.064
Something is happening in this hardened criminal's heart, something marvelous, something magnificent, something miraculous, something miraculous His cross becomes a classroom.
00:16:08.064 --> 00:16:16.951
He's going to demonstrate genuine confession, repentance and trust.
00:16:17.595 --> 00:16:18.957
So, following this admission, he makes his appeal.
00:16:18.957 --> 00:16:20.601
We'll call it that the appeal, verse 42.
00:16:20.601 --> 00:16:22.566
He makes his appeal.
00:16:22.566 --> 00:16:25.513
We'll call it that the appeal, verse 42.
00:16:25.513 --> 00:16:32.458
And he said Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.
00:16:32.458 --> 00:16:34.103
One of the greatest statements of faith you'll ever read.
00:16:34.103 --> 00:16:35.908
He doesn't say Jesus, remember me if you come into your kingdom.
00:16:35.908 --> 00:16:42.485
Look, lord, if everything works out and you really do have a kingdom and you come with that kingdom, would you remember me?
00:16:42.485 --> 00:16:49.006
Oh, no, no, no, no, lord, I believe you are the king of Israel and you have a kingdom coming in the future.
00:16:49.006 --> 00:16:49.607
Can you imagine?
00:16:49.607 --> 00:16:53.846
This thief has become a premillennialist right here.
00:16:53.846 --> 00:16:58.963
There's a kingdom coming, lord, let me be a part of it.
00:16:58.963 --> 00:17:01.160
Can he be serious?
00:17:01.254 --> 00:17:04.665
The evidence doesn't match this statement.
00:17:04.665 --> 00:17:06.923
Jesus is not heading for a throne.
00:17:06.923 --> 00:17:08.701
He's hanging on a cross.
00:17:08.701 --> 00:17:11.380
He's not wearing a diadem, he's wearing a crown of thorns.
00:17:11.380 --> 00:17:13.442
He's not welcomed by the nation.
00:17:13.442 --> 00:17:15.221
He's being rejected by the nation.
00:17:15.394 --> 00:17:19.626
You have a dying man believing in a dying king.
00:17:19.626 --> 00:17:35.908
Is this thief blind?
00:17:35.908 --> 00:17:37.052
Oh no, I once was blind, but now I see.
00:17:37.052 --> 00:17:48.653
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.
00:17:48.653 --> 00:17:50.018
No, you wouldn't, my dear friend.
00:17:50.018 --> 00:18:09.941
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.
00:18:11.875 --> 00:18:42.622
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?
00:18:42.622 --> 00:18:55.528
Wow, I have read that in ancient days this expression was used on tombstones.
00:18:55.528 --> 00:19:17.183
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.
00:19:17.183 --> 00:19:21.911
Lord, remember me.
00:19:21.911 --> 00:19:38.744
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.
00:19:38.744 --> 00:19:47.729
Give me the mercy you gave to this dying thief, just remember me.
00:19:47.729 --> 00:19:57.321
And to that Jesus gives this wonderful answer Verse 43,.
00:19:57.321 --> 00:19:59.084
Here's the answer.
00:19:59.084 --> 00:20:07.432
And he, jesus, said to him truly, I say to you today you will be with me in paradise.
00:20:07.432 --> 00:20:13.667
Now, oh, we're going to do this in one sermon, okay, but there's so much here.
00:20:13.667 --> 00:20:22.908
Get the irony of this answer Jesus is in the process of being crucified for being a liar, an imposter.
00:20:23.576 --> 00:20:33.727
The Supreme Court has unanimously determined that he's blasphemed by claiming to lie about who he was the Son of God.
00:20:33.727 --> 00:20:37.962
Now, they're listening to this exchange.
00:20:37.962 --> 00:20:39.883
Remember, they're all around the cross mocking him.
00:20:39.883 --> 00:20:41.442
They're listening to this exchange.
00:20:41.442 --> 00:20:42.470
Remember, they're all around the cross mocking him.
00:20:42.470 --> 00:20:43.174
They're listening to this exchange.
00:20:43.174 --> 00:20:46.345
Lord, would you remember me when you come in your kingdom?
00:20:46.454 --> 00:20:52.566
And they would expect Jesus at this point to say you know, it's time for my deathbed confession.
00:20:52.566 --> 00:20:59.163
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.
00:20:59.163 --> 00:21:02.942
I'm sorry for making claims like that.
00:21:02.942 --> 00:21:04.019
Don't trust in me.
00:21:04.019 --> 00:21:05.841
I got a little carried away.
00:21:05.841 --> 00:21:08.862
Pal, I can't do anything for you.
00:21:08.862 --> 00:21:19.316
That photograph of me as a Messiah was a fake, I know.
00:21:19.316 --> 00:21:23.507
Jesus says, truly, I'm going to tell you the truth.
00:21:23.507 --> 00:21:25.480
Here's the truth.
00:21:25.480 --> 00:21:28.840
I am who I said I am.
00:21:28.840 --> 00:21:33.463
Today you're going to enjoy paradise with me.
00:21:33.463 --> 00:21:41.096
In the original language, in the construction of the Greek language, the word today is placed forward for emphasis Today.
00:21:41.096 --> 00:21:47.038
Today you will be with me in paradise.
00:21:48.221 --> 00:21:53.971
That brief statement shatters all kinds of false teaching.
00:21:53.971 --> 00:21:56.675
Let me quickly rehearse five of them.
00:21:56.675 --> 00:22:02.406
One it destroys the false doctrine of baptismal regeneration.
00:22:02.406 --> 00:22:03.828
That is the belief.
00:22:03.828 --> 00:22:05.699
You got to be baptized in order to be saved.
00:22:05.699 --> 00:22:10.258
A convert hanging on the cross couldn't go through any kind of Jewish ceremonial cleansing.
00:22:10.258 --> 00:22:20.028
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.
00:22:20.028 --> 00:22:26.042
Jesus didn't holler down at the Roman soldiers hey well, why don't you guys go get a bucket of water?
00:22:26.042 --> 00:22:28.855
We got to get this guy wet.
00:22:28.855 --> 00:22:36.935
Jesus didn't say to him after you've been baptized, I can assure you you get into the kingdom.
00:22:38.179 --> 00:22:41.847
Secondly, jesus's answer destroys the false teaching of soul sleep.
00:22:41.847 --> 00:22:50.540
This false doctrine teaches that believers are in a state of unconsciousness between death and the resurrection.
00:22:50.540 --> 00:22:55.394
The apostle Paul already told us to be absent from the body.
00:22:55.394 --> 00:22:58.241
Speaking of death is to be present with the Lord.
00:22:58.241 --> 00:22:59.886
2 Corinthians, chapter 5, verse 8.
00:22:59.886 --> 00:23:05.084
Jesus is soon going to say from the cross Father, into thy hands I commit my spirit.
00:23:05.084 --> 00:23:10.385
There is no limbo out there.
00:23:10.385 --> 00:23:19.703
There is a sudden, conscious transition from earth to heaven immediately following death.
00:23:19.703 --> 00:23:35.519
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.
00:23:40.596 --> 00:23:54.319
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.
00:24:41.204 --> 00:24:45.999
You have been qualified by the sacrifice of Christ.
00:24:45.999 --> 00:24:50.184
You're not paying for your sin.
00:24:50.184 --> 00:24:54.451
Jesus paid for them all.
00:24:54.451 --> 00:24:56.956
There's another.
00:24:56.956 --> 00:25:01.267
The Lord's answer here destroys the false teaching that there is no life after death.
00:25:01.267 --> 00:25:10.108
Jesus promises paradise to this dying thief, a promise of eternal life.
00:25:11.234 --> 00:25:16.444
The New Testament writers used paradise as a synonym for heaven.
00:25:16.444 --> 00:25:18.690
On two occasions.
00:25:18.690 --> 00:25:25.682
The Apostle Paul talked about being caught up to paradise, where he was given a tour of heaven 2 Corinthians, chapter 12.
00:25:25.682 --> 00:25:34.895
John describes heaven in Revelation, chapter 2, as a paradise where the tree of life bears fruit for the redeemed to enjoy.
00:25:34.895 --> 00:25:40.646
The word paradise would have been understood by this man.
00:25:40.646 --> 00:25:49.949
It's a Persian word which means a walled garden.
00:25:49.949 --> 00:26:04.249
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.
00:26:04.249 --> 00:26:12.276
He had a key, so to speak.
00:26:12.276 --> 00:26:13.999
He could go in and he could walk with the king.
00:26:13.999 --> 00:26:19.750
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.
00:26:25.914 --> 00:26:33.727
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.
00:26:33.727 --> 00:26:35.889
The last Adam.
00:26:35.889 --> 00:26:45.289
Jesus Christ turns now to a thief and promises him a garden, a paradise.
00:26:45.289 --> 00:26:54.028
That leads me to expose another false teaching of faith, plus works for salvation.
00:26:54.028 --> 00:27:01.935
Arthur Pink, in his wonderful little book on these sayings, wrote what could this thief do for Christ?
00:27:01.935 --> 00:27:04.963
He could not walk in the paths of righteousness.
00:27:04.963 --> 00:27:06.326
There were nails through his feet.
00:27:06.326 --> 00:27:12.244
He could not perform any good works for there were nails through both hands.
00:27:12.244 --> 00:27:17.162
He could not turn over a new leaf or promise to live a better life.
00:27:17.162 --> 00:27:20.711
All he could do was die.
00:27:20.711 --> 00:27:25.203
Paul made it clear.
00:27:25.203 --> 00:27:30.067
We read a number of verses earlier, together as an assembly.
00:27:30.067 --> 00:27:37.721
Paul writes, not by works of righteousness, which you have done, but according to his mercy.
00:27:37.721 --> 00:27:39.163
He saved us.
00:27:39.163 --> 00:27:40.626
Titus 3.5.
00:27:40.626 --> 00:27:41.167
So think of it.
00:27:41.817 --> 00:27:45.246
This thief couldn't offer one sacrifice in the temple.
00:27:45.246 --> 00:27:47.979
He couldn't get baptized.
00:27:47.979 --> 00:27:50.286
He couldn't give money to the Lord.
00:27:50.286 --> 00:27:52.519
He had no time to clean up his act.
00:27:52.519 --> 00:27:58.139
He couldn't even prove the reality of his repentance by fruit, spiritual fruit.
00:27:58.139 --> 00:28:01.446
He couldn't set his criminal record straight.
00:28:01.446 --> 00:28:05.902
He couldn't make restitution to the Roman government.
00:28:05.902 --> 00:28:09.648
He couldn't apologize to the families of those whom he murdered.
00:28:09.648 --> 00:28:17.888
He couldn't do one thing for God, country, family, mankind.
00:28:17.888 --> 00:28:22.145
He literally couldn't do anything but die.
00:28:22.145 --> 00:28:30.263
Except this Before he died.
00:28:30.263 --> 00:28:40.008
Do what we need to do Trust in the royalty of Christ, our king.
00:28:42.541 --> 00:28:44.606
Let me make two final observations here.
00:28:44.606 --> 00:28:55.985
From this classroom on Mount Calvary, steve illustrates two lasting truths for us.
00:28:55.985 --> 00:29:04.028
First, it's this it's the truth that as long as you are alive, it's not too late to turn to Christ.
00:29:04.028 --> 00:29:10.845
Jesus doesn't say you know, you kind of waited too long, sorry.
00:29:10.845 --> 00:29:20.106
This dying thief turned to Christ on the last day of his life.
00:29:20.106 --> 00:29:21.821
He's the most unlikely convert.
00:29:21.821 --> 00:29:29.105
This is the most unlikely place for conversion, and he's believing in a rather unlikely king.
00:29:29.105 --> 00:29:34.635
And all of it near the end of his life, by the way.
00:29:34.635 --> 00:29:39.307
That's why we should never say that we know for sure someone went to hell.
00:29:39.307 --> 00:29:50.490
We don't know what transpired between them and the Lord at the last possible moment.
00:29:54.735 --> 00:29:59.705
Samuel Johnson was the famous author who compiled the dictionary of the English language in 1755.
00:29:59.705 --> 00:30:03.100
Well known In his day, he was a committed believer.
00:30:03.100 --> 00:30:21.153
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.
00:30:21.153 --> 00:30:35.734
The couplet is imagined as being a description of a man who's fatally thrown from his horse to the ground.
00:30:35.734 --> 00:30:51.942
And the couplet goes like this Between the stirrup and the ground, I mercy asked, I mercy found One or two seconds.
00:30:51.942 --> 00:31:00.661
I mean between the stirrup and the ground, I mercy asked, I mercy found.
00:31:04.537 --> 00:31:16.645
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.
00:31:16.645 --> 00:31:18.221
I'm going to trust Christ.
00:31:18.221 --> 00:31:21.502
You know, in the last moment I'm living my life.
00:31:21.502 --> 00:31:22.424
I don't want to give it up.
00:31:22.424 --> 00:31:23.106
I'm going to wait.
00:31:23.106 --> 00:31:25.343
I'm going to wait until the last moment.
00:31:25.343 --> 00:31:28.679
And that's because you don't know when the last moment will be.
00:31:28.679 --> 00:31:33.264
You don't know the day when you will die.
00:31:33.264 --> 00:31:37.971
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.
00:31:51.704 --> 00:31:56.664
How many opportunities have you had, my friend?
00:31:56.664 --> 00:32:02.807
Why not accept this one if you haven't already?
00:32:04.695 --> 00:32:13.078
Here's the second truth revealed in this deathbed conversion no one is beyond the reach of God's grace.
00:32:13.078 --> 00:32:15.605
No one is too far gone.
00:32:15.605 --> 00:32:24.280
I mean, if there's anybody who's too far gone, it's this guy Heartened, calloused, a killer.
00:32:24.280 --> 00:32:30.027
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.
00:32:41.661 --> 00:32:51.711
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.
00:33:11.807 --> 00:33:18.174
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.
00:33:55.286 --> 00:34:05.767
He left home, hopped on a train car, arrived in Chicago during a bitter snowstorm.
00:34:05.767 --> 00:34:12.188
Still he sold his shoes for another drink.
00:34:12.188 --> 00:34:16.323
Now he's barefoot and he's broke.
00:34:16.323 --> 00:34:26.186
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.
00:34:26.186 --> 00:34:30.454
He's going to drown himself and end his life.
00:34:30.454 --> 00:34:43.329
But his path led him past the Pacific Garden Mission you ever heard of that place and he heard singing.
00:34:43.329 --> 00:34:55.329
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.
00:34:55.329 --> 00:34:57.976
And they did.
00:34:57.976 --> 00:35:08.400
And that night Mel Trotter heard the gospel and believed and believed.
00:35:08.400 --> 00:35:19.994
Three years later, in 1900, reconciled with his wife and family, he started his own what he called rescue mission.
00:35:19.994 --> 00:35:29.295
And until he died in 1940, he started 60 more, winning thousands of people to Christ.
00:35:33.186 --> 00:35:34.954
Even Mel Trotter, I mean, how low can you get?
00:35:34.954 --> 00:35:37.059
Was not too far gone.
00:35:37.059 --> 00:35:40.487
No one is, including you and me.
00:35:40.487 --> 00:35:41.148
Why?
00:35:41.148 --> 00:35:43.813
Why?
00:35:43.813 --> 00:35:59.726
Because there is a fountain filled with blood drawn from Emmanuel's veins and sinners, plunged beneath that flood, lose all their guilty stain.
00:35:59.726 --> 00:36:06.496
That dying thief rejoiced to see that fountain in his day.
00:36:06.496 --> 00:36:08.938
Thief rejoiced to see that fountain in his day.
00:36:08.938 --> 00:36:15.601
And there have I, though vile, as he washed all my sins away.
00:36:15.601 --> 00:36:17.740
Thank you,
CARI EPISOD LEPAS
Cari episod lepas bagi Stephen Davey Sermons.
Penafian: Podcast dan karya seni yang dibenamkan pada halaman ini adalah daripada Stephen Davey, yang merupakan hak milik pemiliknya dan tidak bergabung dengan atau disokong oleh Listen Notes, Inc.
SUNTING
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