“Then one of the criminals who were hanged blasphemed Him, saying, “If You are the Christ, save Yourself and us.” But the other, answering, rebuked him, saying, “Do you not even fear God, seeing you are under the same condemnation? And we indeed justly, for we receive the due reward of our deeds; but this Man has done nothing wrong.”
Then 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.”
I want us to notice these three crosses that were represented at the crucifixion of Christ. In John 19:18, we are told: “They crucified him and two other with him, on either side one, and Jesus in the midst.”
I. FIRST POINT: We need to notice the Cross of Rejection.
In Luke 23:39, the Bible says “Then one of the criminals who were hanged blasphemed Him, saying, “If You are the Christ, save Yourself and us.” I want us to notice some things about this particular thief.
A. No admission of his guilt.
He is not interested in admitting he is wrong. He is just mad that he has gotten caught. In other words, he is not sorry that he has offended God, sinned against God. No! He is sorry that he got caught. The Bible tells us about the end result of worldly sorrow. “For the wages of sin is death” Romans 6:23.
Here is a man who is reaping what he has sown and he does not like it.
You see all his life this man sowed to his flesh. The Bible tells us the result of this in “For he who sows to his flesh will of the flesh reap corruption, but he who sows to the Spirit will of the Spirit reap everlasting life” Galatians 6:8.
B. We need to notice this thief’s unbelief.
He says to the Lord “IF You are the Christ.” This is devil talk! In Matthew 4:3, the devil said to Jesus, “IF You are the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread.” It was in the Garden of Eden, that the devil started with his “IF.”
“IF you sin you shall be like gods, and not die like God said.” Whenever you find doubt about what God has said, you will find the devil is behind it. In this particular case what is subject to unbelief is salvation. The devil is the author of confusion.
The Devil wants people to doubt what the Word of God says especially about salvation. So, they will end up in the lake of fire. The Bible tells us who the father of lies is, Satan, “there is no truth in him ... he is a liar, and the father of it” John 8:44.
C. On the cross of rejection we need to notice lastly, The lack of humility.
Instead of being humble and looking for mercy, we are told this thief in Luke 23:39 “Mocked” Jesus, meaning to utter reproaches; to scoff; to use rude and reproachful language. This man so desperately needed the saving grace of God. Yet, in his last breathes cursed the Son of God, the only one who could save him.
Pride still sends a person to hell; the proud of heart still say “I do not need God. I can save myself.” This thief needed to turn to the Lord for mercy because the Bible tells us in Psalm 103:8 “The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and plenteous in mercy.”
Instead on this Cross of Rejection hung the unrepentant thief. He had no guilt or shame for what he did. He had no belief in the Son of God. He had no humility because of his mess. Ever since he breathed his last breath, he has been hoping he could have changed his mind and accepted the Saviour that he rejected on the Cross of Rejection.
2. SECORD POINT: We need to notice the Cross of Reaction, Luke 23:40-
42.
I want us to notice something about this thief that hung on the Cross of Reaction.
A. First, he feared God.
In Luke 23:40, we read this thief said to the thief that hung on the Cross of Rejection, “Do you not even fear God.” The Bible says, “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom.” He knew that God controlled his destiny.
He knew that God was the judge of all things.
B. Second, he realized that he was a condemned man with no earthly way out.
Notice his words in verse 40, seeing you are under the same condemnation?
C. Third, he acknowledges his sin, verse 41, “And we indeed justly”
The Bible tells us that “all have sin and come short of the glory of God.” “As it is written, there is none righteous, no not one.” Acknowledgment of one’s sin is the first step of getting saved. A person must first acknowledge they are a sinner, before that they know they need a Saviour.
If a person does not see themselves as sinner then there is no need to be saved.
Today, most people are trusting in something else other than the shed blood of Jesus Christ to save them.
D. Fourth, the thief on the cross of reaction acknowledged he deserved his sentence - verse 41, “For we receive the due reward of our deeds.”
He knew clearly that he reaped what he had sown. In other words, he said “I am guilty for what I have done and deserve to be in the fix that I am in.” He acknowledged that he deserved his death sentence. He was sorry for his sin, not because he was caught, but, because he sinned against God.
This man was on the road to salvation, for he knew he was a sinner in need of a Saviour.
E. Lastly, this thief acknowledged that Jesus did not deserve the death sentence verse 41 “But this Man has done nothing wrong.”
He realized and acknowledged the sinlessness of the man next to him. Concerning himself he knew and admitted that he was a sinner and deserved his sentence of death. What we see here is the steps of someone getting saved. There was only one last thing for this man to do and praise God! And he did it.
He turned to the centre cross, the third cross, The Cross of Redemption and uttered these words verse 42 “Then he said to Jesus, “Lord, remember me when You come into Your kingdom.”
We want to notice the thief called Jesus, Lord. This is very important because “Lord” is a title of deity. The thief realized that only the Lord Jesus Christ could save him from the situation.
The Bible tells us “For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.” Unlike the other thief on The Cross of Rejection, the thief on The Cross of Reaction had no doubt who Jesus was. He came to Jesus humbly, admitting his sin, accepting his sentence of death, and crying out to God for his mercy. This thief believed on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ to save him.
“But as many as received Him, to them gave the power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on His name” John 1:12.
3. THIRD POINT: Finally, we need to notice the THIRD cross, the Cross of Redemption.
Redeem means to “buy back.” Jesus buys back from the slave market of sin, from eternal damnation in a lake of fire all those who call upon Him to save them.
Let us take notice how Jesus responded to thief on the Cross of Reaction verse 43 “And Jesus said to him, “Assuredly, I say to you, today you will be with Me in Paradise.” You talk about “Good News”! Where could you find any religion in the world that could tell you, “Today you will be with Me in Paradise.”
Show me one religion in this big wide world that will tell you for sure, “You are going to paradise (heaven) the bottom line is there is not any. Only Bible Christianity can make that promise, because it is based on the man on that third cross, The Cross of Redemption.
Conclusion:
Which side of that cross of redemption are you on? Your eternity is counting on it! Rejection or Reaction? Rejection will turn you away from God and heaven. Acceptance of Christ will give you a place in heaven.
