Three Crosses

Good to see you Summit Church at all of our campuses across the Triangle. Every weekend we gather in one of nine different locations across the Triangle, plus a tenth our brothers in the Wake County Correctional Facility. We say greetings to all of you.

We do that because it is a better and more efficient way we've learned to be able to reach the Triangle. We also allow us, meaning in different locations, allows us to keep the church more local and so we do that, but we all gather as one body together and that's what we do this weekend. I would invite all of you at all of our campuses to take out your Bible if you have it and open it to Luke chapter 23.

Luke 23, if you have your Bible and I hope that you do. As you are turning there, if you have ever driven along the Blue Ridge Parkway, you might have seen a little sign that you go as you go across one point where it says Eastern Continental Divide. That is the line that marks the eastward and westward slopes of our continent. It's raindrops, they say, that fall even an inch to the west of that dividing line will flow westward down toward the Mississippi River and those that fall just an inch or so to the east will go all the way out to the Atlantic Ocean. There is even one spot in Glacier National Park in Montana called the Triple Divide Peak.

I've actually been there once. It's a spot that right from that one spot water flows to either the Pacific Ocean, the Atlantic Ocean, or the Arctic Ocean. I want you to think about it. You've got three little sort of raindrop friends that are falling casually through the sky just chatting it up. They can literally land one centimeter apart from each other and end up in oceans on opposite sides of the globe. I share that because the passage we're going to work through today shows you the dividing line of eternity. People that are very close, very similar in life situations, who fall on opposite sides of this line are going to end up eternities apart. That's what you see when you look into Luke 23. We're going to find the stories of two men whose lives are almost identical in every way, but who fall by their own choice on the opposite side of a line and they end up in entirely different places.

Your life is going to be represented in one of the two of them. Let's take a look at their stories. Let me jump back to verse 26 real quick. As they led Jesus away to be crucified, two others, verse 32, who were criminals, were led away to be put to death with him. By the way, based on the other places that the New Testament uses this word criminals, it's most likely talking about insurrectionists who wanted to throw off the power of Rome. And we're not talking about casual, loving, you know, George Clooney, Ocean's Eleven type of thieves.

We're talking about violent, desperate men. Verse 33, when they came to a place that is called the skull, or in Hebrew language, Golgotha, which literally means the skull, evidently they say the rock face actually looked like a skull the way the rocks formed in it. It was very terrifying just how it looked. They called it the skull and that's where they did executions. It was there that they crucified him and the criminals, one on his right and the other one on his left. And Jesus said, Father, forgive them, verse 34, for they know not what they do. This is the dividing line of history.

And at its pinnacle stands a skull with three crosses on one of which hangs the Son of God himself, and on the other two, two criminals. You know, when the President of the United States makes an important speech, he often will include with him in the press conference on the stage that he speaks from, he'll include those who are most important to whatever it is that he's announcing. So if it's something that relates to the military, he'll put other generals up there with him. If he's talking about what's happening in a community, he'll put local leaders from that community.

If it's a new policy that he's starting, he'll put people in the group that will benefit from the policy that he's introducing. I want you to think about this. During the defining moment of God's work in human history, he chooses to walk onto stage with two random unnamed criminals because that's what his greatest moment was about. These three crosses are a microcosm of human history that tell the entire story of the human race. You're going to see a cross of redemption, you're going to see a cross of rejection, and you're going to see a cross of repentance. First, let's talk for a minute about Jesus's cross, the one in the middle, the cross of redemption.

Maybe you wonder how Jesus got on the cross in the first place. After all, the last time we saw Jesus, he was doing miracles and healing people, and everybody seemed to love him. Well, see, Jesus had gotten sideways with both the religious and the secular leaders of his day. The religious leaders were jealous of him because he threatened their authority. The secular leaders thought of him as a nuisance who didn't tremble enough before the almighty power of Rome.

The Jewish people were disappointed in him because he hadn't thrown off Roman power the way that they'd hoped, and his disciples were confused by him, so one betrayed him and the others abandoned him. So in a sense, his crucifixion represents the culmination of the collective failure of the human race. His crucifixion was caused by our jealousy, our arrogance, our apathy, our unbelief, and our cowardice. But God, Scripture tells us, had his own purpose in the crucifixion, something that he had been pursuing since the very beginning of human history. You see, from the beginning, God had told his people that he would send a Savior to take their place under the curse of death. It's what we say around here at the Summit Church all the time. You can summarize the gospel in four words.

You remember this? What is it, Church? Jesus in my place. He told Adam and Eve, God told Adam and Eve, that he would send a deliverer who would crush the serpent of death. Genesis 3 15, he said, but that serpent of death is going to bite the heel of the deliverer.

Let me just ask you, think about this for a minute. If a man is in a war with a snake and the man steps on the head of the snake and he crushes the head of the snake but the very poisonous snake bites his heel, who wins that fight? Well, in a sense, they both lose because the snake is dead.

He got his head crushed, but then the guy is dead because he got bit by the poisonous snake. He's saying that, yes, there will be a guy who will come who will crush death, but he's actually going to be bitten by death and die from it. From that point on in the Bible, he's going to give picture after picture of this throughout almost every page of the Old Testament.

It's what we spent a year talking about. For example, after destroying the world through a global flood in Noah's day, he sets a gigantic bow in the sky, a rainbow. That's a promise that God will never again destroy the earth in that way. But the way the author writes that is he uses the word war bow, like a bow and arrow, and it's put in the sky this way, which means that it's no longer pointed down toward earth.

It's pointed back up into heaven. It's a promise that God would absorb the arrow of his judgment, the death sentence, into himself rather than firing that arrow down into us. When Abraham was about to sacrifice his son Isaac at God's command, right before he took Isaac's life, God said stop and points him to a lamb that had been caught in the bushes just off to the right so that that lamb could be sacrificed in Isaac's place and Isaac the son could go free.

The entire sacrificial system was built on the concept of an innocent substitute taking the place of the guilty. So every year in Israel, each believing family would bring one lamb a perfect unblemished lamb to the temple where they would offer it in sacrifice and the father of that family would carry it up to the altar and he'd lay it down on the altar and he would lay his hand on the head of that that lamb and begin to confess the sins of that family and while he confessed their sins the priest would take the knife and slit the throat of the lamb showing that this lamb, this innocent lamb, was dying in the place of of that family. Isaiah the prophet said that one day God would send his servant to be the lamb who suffered for the sins of the world and that that servant would be wounded for our transgressions, bruised for our iniquities, the punishment that purchased our peace was going to be put on him and by his stripes would be healed. When John the Baptist saw Isaiah he cried out behold the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. On the head of Jesus is going to be laid the on the head of Jesus is going to be laid the sins of the entire human race. That's what's happening here at the cross. Martin Luther said Martin Luther said it this way he said all the prophets all the prophets foresaw that on the cross Jesus became the greatest murderer the greatest adulterer thief rebel and blasphemer that there ever was our most merciful father sent his only son into the world and said to him Jesus you're going to become Peter the denier you're going to become Paul the persecutor the blasphemer and the cruel oppressor you're going to become David that adulterer you will become Adam that sinner which did eat the apple in paradise you're going to become the husband who is neglected or abused his family you're going to become the immoral woman who is destroyed not only her life through her actions but seemingly everybody she comes into contact with you're going to become the drug addict you're going to become the teenage girl lying to her parents you're going to become the hypocrite living a double life you're going to become the proud the selfish and the apathetic he did more than come as a religious leader to teach us how we ought to live he took the place of those of us who had lived opposite of how God wanted us to live on the cross he became our sin so that from the cross he could forgive our sin so that from the cross he could look out at those who had rejected and failed him and pray what he did there in verse 34 father forgive them he could extend forgiveness to them because he was being punished for them I don't have a lot of great analogies for you but there's one I use with my kids I've given it to you before if you're a parent I would encourage you to use something like this with your kids we talk about the cross and I tell a story that I heard many years ago I heard it as a true story whether or not it's true I can't you know verify but supposedly it took place back in a Viking country many many years ago a thousand years ago there was a king who in his small little country had the reputation of being the fairest king that lived on the earth and the most loving king the people adored him because he was so fair and so loving the king came out to address his nation one day and said someone is stealing money from my treasury the king said that you know that I promise to take care of you those you that are poor I help I sometimes bring them into my own house he said but you can't steal money from me because I'm the ruler and I've got to take care of the country and so he said whoever gets caught stealing from the king will get the punishment of 10 lashes with a whip how they gave punishments out in those days and so a couple a week or so passes by and he comes back out a second time and he said money continues to be stolen on a regular basis he said we're going to have to double this penalty from 10 lashes to 20 lashes another week goes by money being stolen every day so he comes out a third time and says we're going to double this from 20 lashes to 40 lashes which was in essence the the death penalty two days after the king made this final proclamation they caught the thief red-handed it was the king's mother now at that point I always look at my kids and I say so what's this king going to do it's always fun to hear my kids kind of you know like begin to argue about it and one of the kids is like well um he he'd have to he has to give her the punishment because I mean if it was anybody else he'd punish them and so it's not fair if he just lets her off because it's his mom that's not fair at all and then one of my other kids would be like yeah but you know he can't he can't hurt his mom that's his parent you know I'm like that's a really I like that you think that but um you know it's how do you resolve that dilemma he's the most fair and the most loving well according to the story the king retires into his chambers and asks for some time to think about it comes out a day later and says you gotta give her the punishment the law is the law the law does not make exceptions if I can't make an exception just because she's my mom and so they take her to the place where they gave the whippings and they tied her up and they tore off the back of her shirt and the um the guard uh takes the whip and he pulls it back and he's about to bring the first of these 40 lashes across the back of his mom and the king says says stop the king walks over to his mom everybody thinks just to say goodbye but he he embraces her but instead of letting go after he hugs her he just holds on and then he looks at the guard and says now I want you to hit her and the guard says I can't hit her you're right in the way if I try to hit her I'll hit you and the king said I gave you a command and that command is to hit her and so the guard tries to hit the mom but instead of hitting the mom he hits all 40 times he hits the king instead of his mom now again whether or not that story is true I don't know but I know that what it illustrates is 100 true that what God did at the cross is he took the place so that he would fulfill the law that was against us that the soul that sin shall die and that he did it in a way that he could save us and he could bring us to heaven with him that is why we say the gospel is Jesus in my place I realize this can be a little hard to grasp but think of it this way when you forgive somebody when you forgive somebody you agree to absorb the consequences for their action into yourself that's what forgiveness is for example say somebody lies about you and destroys your business their lives cause financial harm to you what are your options at that point well you could prosecute them and then prosecute you could take away their business or take money back away from them you could go out and you know get back at them by exposing them and telling everybody what a liar they are and ruining their reputation but if you choose to forgive then what you are saying is I'm going to let the sting of that person sin end in me and I'm not going to retaliate and I'm not going to even the score I'm not going to put the sting back into them I'm going to absorb the sting of suffering for their sin what God did on the cross was exactly that he refused to give the sting of death into us and he took it into himself he suffered so that we didn't have to so do you understand what is the gospel four words Jesus say with me Jesus in my place that's why we say Jesus did not just die for you Jesus died instead of you he took your place now we turn to the other two crosses on either side of him bearing the two criminals because they're going to demonstrate for us the division the dividing line of the entire human race verse 39 one of the criminals who were hanged railed at him and said are you not the Christ save yourself and us verse 40 but the other rebuked him do not fear God said 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 but this man this man has done nothing wrong verse 42 and then he turns to Jesus and he says Jesus remember me when you come into your kingdom verse 43 and Jesus said to him truly I say to you today today you will be with me in paradise now first let's talk about what these two guys have in common first they're both equally bad it doesn't say that one of them was worse than the other that one was a varsity level center one was a jv level they're both equally bad they're both under the sentence of death in fact gospel Matthew's account the gospel of matthew tells us that both of these criminals started out um both of them mocking Jesus not just the one we know that both of them are minutes away from dying we know that both criminals would have been happy for Jesus to have delivered them from death verse 39 even the one that ultimately rejects Jesus says hey if you're really the messiah save yourself and us that's partially a taunt and partially sincere he would have loved for if Jesus to have come down off the cross smitten the romans delivered them and led an insurrection against Rome right so both of them want Jesus to deliver them but one thief began to understand some things things that are necessary for a true conversion and understanding these three things I'm going to give you is the dividing line of the human race here it is right and be very careful about these is number one he knew the difference this repentant thief in seeking help from God and seeking God for himself he knew the difference in seeking help from God and seeking God for himself you see how verse 40 the repentant thief doesn't ask to be taken down from the cross look at it look at verse 40 he doesn't ask to be taken down from there I'm sure y'all he would have been happy if Jesus had offered that if he'd been like hey you know what I'm going to take you down from the cross and you're not going to die today I'm sure he would have been overjoyed but when he called out on Jesus for help he doesn't mention being taken down off the cross all he says is remember me when you come into your kingdom because the thief realizes listen that what he needs is not a change in circumstance what he needs is a change in what his life has been centered upon so instead of asking God for the life he wants he wants to make God his life do you understand the difference do you understand the difference in seeking God to give you the life you want and wanting God to become your life it's the difference between loving God for himself and finding God as a useful means to some other end John Piper says that many people for example relate to God like a tire iron tire irons are a really useful instrument very helpful in a pinch right but nobody really loves a tire iron nobody brags about their tire iron nobody displays their tire iron proudly nobody says hey you got to come over and look at my tire iron right you hide it in the trunk you wouldn't want to be caught without it but you don't love it your tire iron is useful for taking care of what you really care about and what do you really care about your car your car that's how many of us piper say it says see God God is useful for some end we need him for he gives us peace in life he gives us a stable family he helps us in our marriage he's going to take us to heaven when we die but he's not beautiful in and of himself to us so we seek him as a means to an end God is useful for getting the life that we want but we don't want God to be our life which of those two better describes how you seek God do you find him useful or you find him beautiful is God merely the best means to the life you want or do you want God to be your life in the same way there's a big difference in trying to appease God and really loving him and we all know an illustration of like a man who who is mistreats his wife and neglects her and after many years of putting up with this she just says I'm leaving and so he suddenly panics and he starts to make all these changes and he agrees to go to counseling with her and he starts to go to church with him we've seen this story actually several times here at the summit church and and he starts to make all these changes but after a while after he's out of danger he ends up going back to his old ways because when the danger is gone and he doesn't think she's going to leave he's never really corrected the core problem in his heart and that is he doesn't give his wife the place in his heart that she deserves in the same way our repentance has to be a genuine change of heart toward God not merely an attempt to appease God many people wonder about deathbed conversions you heard of that they're like well can somebody live an evil life and never do anything good or think about God at all and then in the moment right before they die they're like before they die repent to God and go to heaven I mean the answer from this story is yes thank God yes this story shows you that but it also shows you listen it has to be true repentance it can't be God give me my get out of hell free card without a change of heart that says God up until now I've centered my whole life on everything but you and that changes from this moment forward whether I got five minutes left for 50 years I'm not just trying to make a deal with you so that I can use you to get to heaven I want you to become the center of my life and the fact that this guy didn't ask to be delivered from the cross but did ask Jesus to remember his soul shows you that that change had happened in him here's my question for you have you truly repented why do you want Jesus in your life why do you want him is it because you think it'll give you a better marriage is he going to get you out of a jam is is it because you think he can heal you or prosper you is it because you think he'll take you to heaven or do you want him for him even if it means that you for the time being have to stay on the cross of bad health or a bad marriage or an unhappy home or tough circumstances in your job listen you have got to get more serious about your soul than you are your skin because ultimately what salvation is about is not changing the circumstance of your life it's about reconnecting you and restoring you to God regardless of the circumstance of your life have you truly repented before God or have you just tried to arrange a deal with God before I go on to number two let me give you a handful of signs that you've never really repented right here's one letter a if you're taking notes you got areas of compromise before God some of you have believed this lie that you can accept Jesus as savior and not surrender to him as lord I heard that when I was a kid oh you can accept Jesus as savior now and then and then you know I mean one day you might really you know surrender that's that bible never makes that division imagine that you know you got married say you're a girl and you get married and you know as soon as the reception is done you grab your keys you're heading for the door and your new husband's like where you going and you're like I'm gonna go spend the night with my old boyfriend right that's not a marriage at all people who accept Jesus as savior but not lord are attempting to do the same thing they're like okay Jesus I'm gonna be you're reunited with you but you know I I'm not really you if he is not your lord he's not your savior there's letter b you don't have a growing relationship with him you don't spend daily time with him reading this word and praying I mean after all if he's the center of your life you'll talk with him constantly and you'll study his word if he really is the center of your life I mean if your relationship with Jesus consists of coming in here and hearing a pep talk from me every week and then you going throughout the week trying to be a fairly moral person but you never really talk to Jesus beyond that you have no relationship with him any more than I would have a marriage to my wife Veronica if all I did was get together with a friend and talk about her once a week that was it we come together my friend now we talk about how awesome Veronica is we even seen some songs about Veronica and then we come back next week and do the same thing that's not a relationship what makes me married what makes my marriage a relationship is not that I talk about it with somebody else but that I commune with her throughout the week here's another you aren't involved in things like small groups or bible studies that are growing your relationship with him that shows that you've never really made him the center of your life here's letter c you're not actively involved in his mission your attendance in church is sporadic and you stay on the sidelines how can you say he's the center of your life if you're not living out his will for your life doing the things in ministry he's told you to do those things might indicate that you're trying to use God rather than really love him let me get back to this repentant thief and I'll show you what else is true about him first thing is when he said he knew the difference in seeking help from God and seeking God for himself number two he understood his guilt before God he understood his guilt before God Tim Keller who stood right here on the stage just a couple days ago Tim Keller says that this second thief says something that is impossible to admit without God's help verse 41 he looks at this other criminal and he says we are punished justly getting what our deeds deserved like I told you at the beginning the word that the other gospels use for these two guys is lay stay lay stay which means something more like insurrectionist these were guerrilla fighters they were freedom fighters there is no way a guy who has been a freedom fighter is going to say that he is being fairly and justly put to death by Rome he believed he was fighting for justice he believed his cause was just so when he says we are getting what we deserve what is he talking about he's not talking primarily about Rome's punishment of him on the cross what he's saying is we deserve to be abandoned by God to be punished for our sins we deserve before God to die you see repentance recognizes that sin is first and foremost against God King David committed what had to be one of the most egregious public sins in history he sleeps with a woman who is not his wife who happens to be married to one of his best friends who is also his man right-hand man-at-arms so after his inability to cover up this pregnancy that she has because of them sleeping together he arranges for his best friend to be killed and then he lies about it and covers it up for an entire year in front of Israel when God after a year finally brings him to repentance David writes a psalm recording his repentance psalm 51 and right at the beginning of that psalm David writes that psalm David says against you Lord and you only have I sinned how could he say that I mean I imagine when he said that that somewhere in heaven Uriah was like ah I feel like you sinned against me too and I thought Bathsheba said yeah you sinned against me and the baby that died because of that I felt like that baby said you sinned against me and I felt like the entire nation Israel said you also sinned against us how could he say against you and you only have I sinned it's not because he didn't recognize the wrong he'd done to others or that he needed to repay them it's because God was so big in his heart that this was the most important one he sent against is that how you feel about your sin you see repentance has to be first vertical before it's horizontal there's a difference between feeling remorse for the mess that sin has made of your life and feeling actual repentance toward God because of it II Corinthians 7 10 says that there's actually two kinds of sorrow for sin this is very important to understand because a lot of times we think any sorrow is good sorrow and anytime there are tears in church oh that's got to be a sign that God's working in their life Paul says not at all he says a lot of people weep over sin they weep over regret the shame that brings on them the harm they've caused somebody else he said that's a worldly sorrow that ultimately will not lead anywhere he says godly sorrow is directed toward God and godly sorrow is not measured by the amount of tears that flow out of your eyes it's measured by the change that happens in your hearts that sadness that you feel about your sin is it because of what your sin has done to others is it because of what your sin has done to you is it because of the mess you've made or is it because you actually understand your responsibility to God that he is the main one you send against he was your creator he's the one that filled your life with goodness he's the father you spurned and who you pushed out of your life you see as long as you think only about the horizontal dimensions of your sin I hurt my wife I embarrass myself I failed my kids you'll never really change this thief recognized first and foremost his relationship with God that he had spurned and torn apart have you repented toward God because of your sin here's the third thing we see about him he boldly dared upon Jesus grace you know when you think about it you think about it what this thief asks is crazy right I mean think about it I know that you're the perfect Lord from heaven but whenever you get to wherever you're going into whatever reward you're coming into would you stop and remember a guy you met for about 15 minutes who was being executed because of treason and murder and who had done nothing worthy in his life that is a crazy request the only thing crazier than the request is that Jesus grants it why would Jesus do that what did Jesus have to gain from granting this request this guy's never going to do anything useful for Jesus this guy can't help the cause he's never going to give his testimony to a single person he's never going to go on a mission trip he's never going to contribute a single dollar to the church this guy's got nothing to offer Jesus he's got a few minutes to live that's it yet Jesus grants the request why because God sent not his son into the world to condemn the world but so that the world through him might be saved we beheld his glory the glories of the only begotten of father the father full of grace and truth you see grace is what you show when you really love somebody here we see the father in Jesus's parable of the prodigal son welcoming home his lost son he's not evaluating what his son's going to be able to do for him he's not evaluating what it's going to cost to bring him back he's just so in love with his lost son that all he thinks about is the joy of having him back i'm telling you just watching this interaction i feel like i got to take off my shoes this is holy ground marvelous grace of our loving lord grace that exceeds our sin and our guilt yonder on calvary's mount out poured there where the blood of the lamb was filled grace grace god's grace grace that will pardon and cleanse within grace grace god's grace grace that is somehow greater than all my sin you may not have anything else you may have spoiled your entire life away you may have nothing left to offer to god but you still have the ability to reach out to him you have the ability to call out to merc for mercy to him and that you find is enough now verse 43 look specifically at what Jesus says in response because there are some really important things you can learn there too jesus response is one line today today you will be with me in paradise the key point of emphasis in jesus's statement is the phrase with me because the essence of salvation you see is being united with jesus write this down christian conversion is not a change of circumstance life doesn't suddenly become better the guy stayed on the cross christian conversion is not a change of circumstance it's not even primarily a change of behavior you don't immediately become a perfect person it's a change of status it is a change of position you are now identified with christ some of our staff team our pastors and elders have been memorizing um in the recent weeks certain parts of efeasians and efeasians 2 6 paul describes salvation this way i love this verse well watch this you've read this and probably read right over top of this but it's really strange and god raised us up with christ and seated us with him now i know it's not english class but what tense has that verb in past tense he seated us with him in the heavenly places in christ jesus shouldn't it be will be seated like one day i'll be seated with him in the heavenly places no no according to this verse we are already positionally seated in the heavenly places because salvation is a position change that's what conversion is he took our sin we got his position before the father it's as sure as if it's mine as if i were already seated there i'm already seated in the heavenly places i mean i'm literally at the right hand of god with him so jesus says to this thief as of right now you're with me from this point on whether living or dying you're going to be identified with me and what i have belongs to you so today when you die you're going to have as much access to paradise as i do y'all would you get this concept that conversion is essentially jesus giving his identity to you as your own a few radical changes are going to happen in your life without you trying to even make them happen it just happens make them happen it just happens in fact i would say these almost serve as tests for whether you've really understood salvation here's the first one letter a you'll be assured of your salvation you'll you'll get assured of it there's no more i hope i can make it i hope i've been good enough i hope he grades on the curve you realize that you're as sure of heaven as jesus is john bunion who guy who wrote pilgrim progress said for years he struggled with doubting his salvation because he always wondered like have i felt sorry enough about my sin have i prayed enough do i understand enough about the bible he talked about a vision he had he said one day i was walking through this field and i looked up into heaven it seemed and he said there i it was like i saw god the father and jesus my salvation seated at his right hand and i knew that as long as jesus my salvation was seated there that i was assured of my position before the father that my salvation was in heaven it wasn't it was no longer resting upon me as something i had to earn it was in heaven already and i was seated there with him it was waiting for me he said when i realized that it was like this burden this backpack just fell off of my shoulders as long as jesus is seated there because his position became mine i cannot be lost first john two one john says he says we are we have an advocate before the father jesus christ the righteous um advocate all it means is lawyer that's the word they would use by then a lawyer um whenever i read that verse here's what i always thought it meant this is like me in high school i always pictured jesus as my advocate before the father and the conversation would go like this they pull out a big case file mark greer and would have all the stuff that i'd done wrong that week and you know jesus would lay it down and he'd be like okay i got greer's case file it's been a rough week father i'm gonna go ahead and tell you it's not been pretty and they start going through he's like yeah he did this again and all this is wrong and this one right i know this files back in here it's been here a hundred times but we're gonna put it back in there and uh all this stuff and he lay it all out there and then jesus my advocate would say but but dad i want you to go easy on him i want you to go easy on him because you know he's a good kid he's trying his best and uh i tell you what don't unleash the wrath on him just give him one more chance have mercy on him do it for me dad because you know i went to hold the whole went to earth thing and you know so you owe me so do it that's what how i thought the conversation went um until i read the three or four verses right before first john two one first john one nine if we confess our sins he is faithful and you know this word what word is it just not merciful it didn't say he's faithful and merciful to forgive our sins he's faithful just means he couldn't do anything else and still be righteous here's how that works when the subject of jd greer comes up before the father jesus christ says there ain't no file there ain't no file that's got anything about him because everything that he's ever done was put upon me and it would be unjust for the father to bring back up a sin i'd committed because it would be unjust for god to punish the same sin twice and if god has put on jesus the penalty for all my sin it would literally be unjust for him to hold me accountable for it so jesus had the right hand of god does not plead for mercy he pleads for justice you see when you understand that you become assured of salvation because no longer is it resting upon you you say well okay so i know he's seated there but how do i know that he belongs to me the easy answer is because i've claimed him i put my hand on the head of that lamb if you place your hand on the head of jesus and say that's my sin bear jesus will never move it off if you're like well i'm still a little unclear on that i wrote a book called stop asking jesus into your heart okay and i would never use a church service to promote a book because every time you promote a book like that an angel loses his wings and a puppy dies in heaven so i would not do that but i would just say that i don't make any money off the book when we sell it here so you get a copy of that if you can't afford it i'll give it to you because it'll help you answer that question those who cannot answer the question of whether they know for sure that they know for sure they are saved quite often are not saved because they don't understand salvation they still think that whether they go to heaven is at least partially based on them so when you say are you sure you're going to heaven they'll be like this is the number one answer i get by the way from people inside the church well i'm like 95 i think i am i'm trying my best pastor i'm reading my bible i'm asking for forgiveness you still think it's all about you you it's not about you it's about him it is finished the one work that needed to be done has been done and it's offered to you as a gift if you will receive it you are saved by works just not your works it's saved by his work that you receive as a gift and see when that happens letter b you'll lose your fear of death can you imagine how this thief's outlook on life changed in that moment up until that moment this had represented the end of everything for him now this is simply the gateway into a new existence existence you know listen i don't want to die i don't want to leave my kids i don't want to leave my wife i don't want to leave you but i'm not afraid because i know that whenever that happens before the coroner officially pronounces me dead i will be in the presence of jesus who will welcome me into heaven which means that i'm not afraid of it i mean if i die prematurely if i die in the next few years listen i want y'all have a funeral have a big one and all this little stuff in fact not even in this room just like rent out i don't know the rbc center or something and bring in latte i want kami to sing at my funeral and molly and i want you to like like use it evangelistically i get nick cage to do part of the eulogy and make it a big deal okay um i mean and cry i'll cry that will make me feel good in heaven if y'all are crying and missing me but don't cry for me right we we can cry for those that we leave behind but i'm not afraid of death because in jesus it's nothing but a gateway into this very afternoon i'll be in paradise when you get that letter c you'll gain a new confidence in life you'll when you get that you're going to gain a new confidence of i know this thief doesn't have long to live but can't you imagine that he quit caring about all the people around him i mean who cares if all the people around me are taunting me or the religious leaders are condemning me this king the real king the one who has paradise in front of him that king is for me the one whose kingdom makes this one look like trash and i'm with him when you embrace your position in christ criticism quits bothering you as much you want to know you want to know how you've really embraced your identity in christ criticism doesn't really bother you like it used to here's what i think about it um say you're a billionaire i mean like a legitimate full-on multi-billionaire and um you uh let's say you're get you're in a taxicab and you get out and you're going to pay the driver and it's twenty dollars and you pull out a 20 and as you're pulling out a ten dollar bill you know blows in the wind and starts blowing down the street and it blows across the street and you can't go get it because you know you would you die trying to get across the street are you going to be depressed for the rest of the day because you lost that ten dollars are you going to be like upset for the rest of your life because you lost ten dollars of course not you're a billionaire what's ten dollars let me ask you are you a christian do you toss and turn at night because somebody snubbed you you're like a billionaire on their knees looking for that ten dollar bill when you've got jesus the king and his love and support of you what's the matter with you if you're worried about a ten dollar criticism when you know who you are in christ whether or not you succeed in life becomes less important to you who cares if i make it big who cares if anybody knows my name or thinks of me as a success who cares if i make lots of money i got his approval and i got a stake in his never-ending kingdom when you become a christian what happens is you positionally change so that what's in christ becomes yours it's while we often compare it to um marriage all analogies break down this one breaks down as well but um it's like when i got married when i got married to veronica july 28th 2000 up to this point she had been veronica marie mcpeters that was her name and on the greatest day of her life she became veronica marie greer now here's where the analogy breaks down she wasn't like a poor beggar and i wasn't like a rich millionaire but let's just pretend that were true let's just pretend that on that day she becomes a greer and all the millions of millions of dollars that i have suddenly become hers if later that week she's worried because she didn't think we can pay the bill because up until now she's never had the money to do anything at some point i'm going to look at her and say hey you took my name and with my name came all this stuff you don't have to live in this reality you got to live in this reality when you become a christian you positionally take jesus's place and suddenly this thief looks up and he's assured of heaven he's not afraid of death and he's no longer dependent on the praise of others or success in life to feel meaningful that's what it means to become a christian have you you see here the cross we see a microcosm of the whole story of the bible the whole story of humanity each of us is going to be one of these two criminals and we're going to share in the destination of one of these two these two look these two look identical in life but right now as we speak one of them is in heaven with jesus maybe he's listening to this message i don't know but the other one right now is in hell and it all goes back to what they did with jesus you see like these two thieves we're guilty like them we're dying we may not be hanging on a cross just a few hours from death but death is as certain for us as it was for them like this thief we cannot possibly hope to earn god's salvation like this thief we got nothing to offer to god i mean you might not only have a few you may have a few days longer to live than he does but what you have is just as worthless to offer to god as what he had and just like with these two thieves he's right there in fact he's right there looking at you if you'll choose him now you got to seek him not as a means to to change in circumstance in life not as an end to something else you got to seek him for him but he's right there the dying thief rejoiced to see that fountain in his day and dare may i though vile as he wash all my sins away you got to choose him he's there and he won't force himself on you one of my professors in college i didn't go to a bible college but um one of my professors in college was a christian he was an african-american gentleman who had spent the first few years of his adult life in prison for several armed robberies he told me that for three months after he got released every night he would lay in bed considering whether or not to go back to his old lifestyle he couldn't get a job he was a convict an ex-convict he hadn't he wasn't married he hadn't just felt like he had nothing to live for and every night he would think should i go knock off another convenience store maybe this is the only way i could make it he said i finally got a job at a hotel making minimum wage he said it was barely making ends meet and late one night i got a sign to go clean up a bathroom that was covered and the vomit of what he said looked like had to be 15 people he said the walls were covered it was an inch thick on the floor he said i was furious i'm down there on my hands and my knees and there's this voice inside of me telling me the only reason they're having you do this is because you're an ex-convict you're never going to get any respect in life then he thought he said no he said it's because i'm black i've never been given a fair shake because of that and i'll always be thought of as second class this professor said as i stood there just fuming with bitterness cleaning up that vomit the spirit of god came upon me and made me realize that in this moment i had a choice i could keep making excuses and go back to my old lifestyle or i could repent of my sin and give myself to god he said somewhere in the middle of cleaning up somebody else's vomit my life forever changed god broke me i admitted that yes while i had certainly faced discrimination in my life i deserved what i had received i knew god had better for me and i say he said here's what he said i quote i was arrested by the holy spirit that night and my soul was set free on my knees and someone else's vomit i was broken and then put back together god released me from my captivity to sin and i stood up freed to serve and live for a new master we got people like that here this week we have people who need to make that same decision you night might not be a recognized criminal but you and i are under the same condemnation of death for your sin ultimately you're dying and you will face judgment but he's here he's ready to save you and if you simply turn to him and you say lord remember me remember me i surrender to you i repent of my sins and i trust you as my savior he will save you why don't you bow your heads at all of our campuses bow your heads i told you last week we are a hospital for the broken not a spa for the saved which means every week we have people like this come in here i don't know what circumstance you're in but i know that some of you this is the decision that's in front of you are you willing to own your sin as yours are you willing to repent of it and are you willing to trust christ as your savior have you received him it's a personal choice you have to make you don't get it because your parents were christians you don't get it because you come to church it has to be a personal decision like this thief made to trust christ as your savior if you never have you could do it right now at this very moment you can pray to god something like this lord i know that i'm a sinner and i believe you took my place i receive you as my savior say it to him i receive you as my savior i surrender to you as my lord right now with every head bowed let me ask you a question i know i can't see everybody at all nine campuses i know that but if you right now prayed that prayer either for the first time or for the first time that you felt like you understood it at our campuses could you just lift your hand up i know i can't see everybody would you just hold it up because i want you to acknowledge it between you and god i see you put it up and hold it up for just a second father i pray for every hand that is raised right now i pray god i know that you are hearing their cry and you are saving them but i pray that you would establish yourself at the center of their life and that everything from this point on would look forward give them the courage to tell somebody give them the courage to to act on this and do what comes next we pray in jesus name in jesus name amen