The Dying Thief Rejoiced!

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This is the Truth Network. The dying thief rejoiced to see that fountain in his day, and there go I, though vile as he, washed all my sins away. Maybe you've heard that hymn before, maybe you've sung that hymn.

There is a fountain filled with blood, flowing from Emmanuel's veins. I'm Stu Epperson, and I, there go I, as vile as he, washed all my sins away. I am grateful that Jesus Christ washed my sins away. And unless you become like that thief, the second thief, we're all like the first one, but unless you become like that second one, you'll never be born again. How could you be so close to Jesus on that cross? Here on Experience Truth this week, we're going into the life, into the final words of Jesus from the cross, as we're studying Luke's account, chapter 23, and I'm fascinated by the first thief. So close to Jesus, yet so far away.

He was right there, right next to the one who could save him. The only one who was dying to save him, and yet he rejected him, blasphemed him, mocked him. If you're the Christ, save yourself and save us.

Two contradictory statements. If Jesus saves himself, he can't save us, and he doesn't save us, he saves me. He comes and saves individuals, not groups, not families, not countries. And so the second thief got it right. God did a work in his heart.

We're going to look closer at him. Robbie, read the passage, will you, and we'll wrap these questions up as we look at these powerful words of life from the tree of death. And the people stood looking on, but even the rulers with them sneered, saying, He saved others, let him save himself. If he's the Christ, the chosen one of God. The soldiers also mocked him, coming and offering him sour wine, and saying, If you're the king of the Jews, save yourself.

An inscription also was written over him in letters in Greek, Latin, and Hebrew. This is the king of the Jews. Then one of the criminals who were hanged blasphemed him, saying, If you're the Christ, save yourself and us. But the other answered, rebuking him, saying, Do you not even fear God, seeing you are under the same condemnation? And we indeed just leave, for we receive the due reward of our deeds.

But this man, he's done nothing wrong. And he said to Jesus, Lord, remember me when you come into your kingdom. And Jesus said to him, assuredly, I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise. What's right with the second thief's prayer? Yeah, so both thieves prayed, and technically both thieves asked for salvation. And we talked about what was wrong with the first thief's prayer. So close to Jesus, yet so far away, tragically his prayer was wrong. He was a self-righteous prayer. It was a blasphemous prayer.

But the second thief, who had once joined in with this comrade in crime, before in blaspheming, we know from the other Gospels, he suddenly rebukes the guy. He says, Do you not even fear God? So there's this understanding of the fear of God. The fear of God is the beginning of wisdom.

Proverbs 9-10, Proverbs 1, all throughout Proverbs. There's this idea of recognizing that there's something divine about the person hanging in the middle. King of the Jews in all three of the major languages, across that shingle for everyone on this common road, walking by Calvary to see Calvary's death, to see this King of the Jews. He recognized his kingship. He recognized there's a need to fear God. He says, Seeing you are under the same condemnation, he recognized because he's God, we're not. We're sinners.

We need what he's got. And he said, We indeed justly, we receive the due reward of our deeds, but this man has done nothing wrong. What a beautiful statement, Robbie, of contrition. The Lord is near the brokenhearted.

Psalms 34-18. But what a statement of guilt. Just basically, Jesus does not deserve the cross. He's here.

He's innocent. Behold the Lamb of God. I deserve to be here. And he said, We are in sin. We deserve, in fact, both thieves deserve worse than the cross. Do you know that torment in hell would be a lot worse? You will be in hell, friend, if you don't know Jesus. You'll wish that your suffering ended at a Roman cross, which is the worst way for anyone to die. To be executed, to be treated like an animal, to have nails driven through your hands and feet, to be striped with that cat of nine tails. We went into the grueling passion of Christ on previous programs on this. If you go through Luke, it's in all the Gospels. You know that hell is much worse than that.

Hell is agony of soul and body, and it is eternal torment where the worm dieth not. This guy says, We deserve that, but this man has done no wrong. He recognized the impeccability of Jesus. He recognized the divinity of Jesus. He recognized all these things about Christ. Then he said to Jesus, Lord, just stop right there. Romans 10, 9, 10. Lord, if you confess through your mouth that Jesus Christ is Lord, remember me.

Robbie, how weak is that? He says, Remember me. He doesn't say the typical sinner's prayer that we have on Gospel tracts, which are brilliant, which are powerful, which many people have prayed and received Christ. He says, Lord, remember me. Why is remember me so important? When was the last time someone used the words remember me in the Bible from this point back? I don't know.

I'll give you a clue. You celebrate it when you celebrate communion of the Lord's Supper or the Eucharist. Jesus said, Remember me when you take this cup, when you take the chalice of the cup, when you break the bread, which is my body. He said, Remember me when you take this feast. The last time the words were uttered in the pages of Scripture, Remember me, were the night before at the final supper that Jesus Christ said, I will not drink of this wine until I come into my kingdom. And Jesus hears the words of this thief saying, Remember me. Wow.

Guess who else said, Remember me? In prison, wrongfully accused of seducing Pharaoh's wife. We know it was the other way around. He committed those sins. He was wrongfully traded into slavery.

He was wrongfully abused, and he was in prison. And all he does is interpret a dream and does a big favor for the baker and the candlestick maker. The cupbearer. The cupbearer from Pharaoh's court. And all he tells the guys is, Hey, I got the dream interpreted, guys are thanking you, and they got out.

And what do you say to them? He said, Remember me. I remember that.

Yeah, it's kind of important. His life and death. Like, what would happen if God hadn't put his memory back in the baker guy or the cupbearer guy, whoever it was that survived. And then Joseph would have just died in that prison. What if Joseph had died in that prison? Where would Israel have been delivered? And what about the whole story and the continuation of the Messianic line?

And when the famine came, would Jacob and his... But God used those words of Joseph, Remember me, to embed that. Think about the power of it. When it comes to life and death, Remember me is very powerful. Remember me when you come here.

Look at this idea. When you come in your kingdom. Remember the first part of Romans chapter 10 verse 9? If you confess your mouth, Jesus is Lord. What's the second part? You believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead.

This dying thief. Yes, his words weren't so profound, but his words recognized Jesus Christ is Lord, unless you recognize him Lord. By the way, 1 Corinthians chapter 11 verse 1, no one can call him Lord unless the Holy Spirit works in him. It might be chapter 12 verse 1, but it's in 1 Corinthians.

Guess what? He recognized his lordship, and he recognized his resurrection when you come to your kingdom. He knew this king wouldn't be in the grave long.

Isn't that something? So he recognized those things about Jesus, and that was his prayer. It was humble.

It was basic. It was just a very meager prayer, but we know 100% it was dead on, and we know 100% that God heard it because of what, Ravi? Today you're going to be with the Lord. Jesus answered his prayer, and this is the question, you know, the significance of his answer. Jesus said to him, Jesus did not speak to the other thief. He did not speak to his tormentors. The only words he gave all those people were the first word from the cross, which we studied last time, which were 2334. Father, forgive them of Luke, for they know not what they do.

What powerful words. The only words he spoke to the most ungracious, evil, tormenting, blasphemous crowd there were forget words of forgiveness. But he gives specific words to this man, because who were the them, by the way? When you say, Father, forgive them, well, guess who he was praying for in that moment? Well, sure, he was praying for us 2,000 years down the road.

Yeah. Sure, he was praying for the 3,000 new saints that came to Christ, Acts 3, Acts 4, Acts 5, you know, these saints that are being added. Sure, he was praying for Saul, who murdered Stephen, who said, don't hold this to his account, very similar to Christ's words, right, in Acts chapter 6 and 7 there. But he was praying for that thief, right?

Boom. A direct shot, a direct hit, right there immediately next to him, who prayed a prayer of penitence, and Jesus said to him, assuredly I say. So he said this over and over again, right? He said, verily, verily, to Nicodemus in John 3, verily, verily, unless a man is born again. He said, verily, verily, over and over again, this is like, assuredly, this is like a punctuation where he says, I'm telling you, I am signing this in blood, and he did, literally, right? Assuredly, I say to you, turning his tortured, contusion-filled head and face to this man today, you, you, this is personal, this is the thief that just addressed him as Lord, as King, as resurrected sovereign. Today you will, right here, right now, be with me.

Those two words, with me, are so profound, Robbie. He doesn't say, you'll be like me. He doesn't say, get your act together.

He doesn't say, obey Jesus, obey the commandments. He says, you will be with me. Those two words, with me, indicate a powerful thing called relationship.

This is the restoration of the curse. This is what you do with your masculine journey. This is what you do with your boot camp, getting men reconnected to be with their Maker, correct? Exactly.

It's all about the intimacy. So he brings him in to his family. He makes him a son. As many as received him, John 1-12, to them gave you the right to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name.

This guy, his, you know, A.W. Pink says, his hands were nailed to that tree. There's no way he could do deeds of righteousness. His feet were attached, nailed, to that tree, to that cross. There's no way he could walk in the ways of righteousness. All he could do, with whatever he had in him, is call upon the name of the Lord to be saved. All he could do was believe, profess, confess.

He could not act anything out. Jesus saw his heart and said, today you will be with me in paradise. That's where Jesus was going, and this guy was going with him.

That's amazing, isn't it? If he can save that guy, the terrorist, these guys were bad, by the way. You go research thief. You hear the word thief.

You're like, oh, this guy, you know, he's probably, you know, picked up some things, you know, grabbed a few things from the dollar store on his way here and though through Galilee. No. These guys were notorious terrorists. You got to thank Taliban, ISIS. These guys were head-cutter offers. These guys were brutal.

These guys were car bombing, bad guys, very bad guys. The kind of guys that needed to be on that cross, right next to the innocent, spotless Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world. So, there's great hope, because if you can save that thief, no matter what you've done, no matter what blight is on your resume, God is offering you forgiveness. Jesus Christ is dying there.

His hands are open wide, outstretched, loving you, inviting you. Matthew 11 28 and 29, come unto me all you who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest. This man had never found rest his whole life until he was attached, nailed to that tree of death right next to Jesus, and then he had the rest of almighty God right next to him. He had the promised land. He had the person of Jesus Christ, the only one that could save anyone right there, and took him with him. Charles Haddon Spurgeon said it this way, he said, our Lord's last companion on earth was his first companion to the gates of heaven. Isn't that powerful? And I can't wait to meet him in heaven. Can you, Robby? No, me too.

So this is great hope. If you haven't trusted in Jesus Christ, if you don't know him as your Savior, will you call out to him to be saved? He wants a relationship with you. He wants to know you.

He created you to know him and to make him known. So do you know him, and have you trusted him? Have you called upon the name of the Lord to be saved? Who are you going to tell about this awesome, awesome thief?

The dying thief joined the ranks of the prodigal, the blind beggar, and the publican praying in the temple, and even the tax collectors at Caius. Jesus came to seek and to save the lost, and we're inviting you to come to know him too. Thank God he saved a sinner like me, right, Robby? Amen.

Amen. So hey, please follow me. I'm on Instagram, I'm on Twitter, I'm on Facebook, at Stu Epperson, S-T-U-E-P-P-E-R-S-O-N. Also follow The Christian Car Guy. He's been gracious to kind of be my tag team partner on today's Experience Truth. Keep studying with us in the book of Luke.

This is chapter 23, verses 35 through 43, and we'll work our way through Christ's final words from the cross next time on Experience Truth. Right here, thank you to all the awesome affiliates that carry this program, that make this possible. Thank you for our amazing production team, Rachel and Bethann. We've got a great team here at Team Truth helping us do this. We're grateful for AFR and all the awesome affiliates that carry the program. God bless you, and thank you, Jesus, for saving my soul. Amen. This is the Truth Network.