The Heart of a Savior

If you would, take your Bibles
and turn to Luke chapter 23. Luke chapter 23. For centuries, scholars have
observed and studied, commented upon the words that are recorded
of our Lord Jesus Christ, those uttered by him in his final hours
on the cross. They’re ardently known as the
seven sayings of the cross. And it’s striking to us that
Jesus was even able to speak at all, given the brutality that
he had endured over the past 24 hours, his arrest, and the
beatings that followed his inquisitions and the beatings that followed
his trials and the beatings that followed. And now this grueling
grind toward his execution. But these statements that he
makes on the cross are more than just remarkable for that reason. They also supply weighty lessons
to the church because they present our Savior in his glorious character. I’d like us to consider these
seven statements because three of the seven are found in the
passage at hand this morning. I’m not gonna have you turn to
the others for the sake of time. You can capture the ones in Luke
here in Luke 23. But I want you to note this.
While Jesus was suffering on the cross, He said these things. In verse 34 of chapter 23, He
said, Father, forgive them. They do not know what they are
doing. In verse 43, He said, Truly, I say to you today, you
shall be with me in paradise. In verse 46, Jesus ultimately
said, Father, into your hands, I commit my spirit. John, in
his gospel, records three of these sayings on the cross. In John 1926, Woman, behold your
son, where he devoted his own mother to the apostle John and
vice versa. Matthew records only one of these
sayings. My God, my God, why have you
forsaken me? Quote from Psalm 20 to 1. John
19 verses 28 and 30 capture two final sayings, a simple assent
to his humanity. I am thirsty. John 1928. And
the final words that John records, it is finished. Those seven sayings have been
studied and considered. As I said in a moment ago, they’re
remarkable, not only in that Jesus was able to express them
at all, but also for what they disclosed to us. After all, it
was Jesus himself who said, the mouth speaks out of that which
fills the heart. And Jesus’ words, those recorded
from his hours on that brutal cross, reveal the sincerest glimpse
of our Savior. And for our purposes this morning,
Christ’s heart, his character, his nature is revealed as well in
his words on the way to the cross. Because Luke here will capture
an additional and important glimpse of our Savior’s nature. This is our Savior in his essence.
In these words, the heart of our Savior is revealed even in
his agony. If you would read along with
me, beginning in verse 26 of chapter 23. When they led him away, they
seized a man, Simon of Cyrene, coming in from the country and
placed on him the cross to carry behind Jesus. And following him
was a large crowd of the people and of women who were mourning
and lamenting him. But Jesus, turning to them, said,
daughters of Jerusalem, stop weeping for me, but weep for
yourselves and for your children. For behold, the days are coming
when they will say, Blessed are the barren and the wombs that
never bore and the breasts that never nursed. Then they will
begin to say to the mountains, Fall on us and to the hills,
cover us. For if they do these things when
the tree is green, what will happen when it is dry? To others also who are criminals,
were being led away to be put to death with him. When they
came to the place called the Skull, there they crucified him
and the criminals, one on the right and the other on the left.
But Jesus was saying, Father, forgive them, for they do not
know what they are doing. And they cast lots, dividing
up his garments among themselves, And the people stood by, looking
on, and even the rulers were sneering at him, saying, he saved
others, let him save himself, if this is the Christ of God,
his chosen one. The soldiers also mocked him,
coming up to him, offering him sour wine and saying, if you
are the king of the Jews, save yourself. Now, there was also
an inscription above him, This is the king of the Jews.” One
of the criminals who was were hanged there was hurling abuse
at him saying, are you not the Christ? Save yourself and us. But the other answered and rebuking
him said, do you not even fear God? Since you are under the
same sentence of condemnation? And we indeed are suffering,
suffering justly, for we are receiving what we deserve for
our deeds. But this man has done nothing
wrong. And he was saying, Jesus, remember me when you come in
your kingdom. And he said to him, truly, I
say to you today, you should be with me in paradise. It was
now about the sixth hour. and darkness fell over the whole
land until the ninth hour, because the sun was obscured and the
veil of the temple was torn in two. And Jesus, crying out with
a loud voice, said, Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.
Having said this, he breathed his last. Now the context of
that passage captures the scene which actually began to develop
in the ministry of the upper room with his closest disciples.
When he and his disciples departed that upper room, they went out
into the garden of Gethsemane to pray. Later that evening,
Jesus was ultimately arrested, as you know. He was forcefully
taken, as John alone records, first before Annas, the former
high priest, and then before his son-in-law, Caiaphas, the
current high priest. Not that the arrest itself was
justified, but things now quickly race away from anything resembling
legitimacy, Annas never should have been the first stop. The
Romans had deposed Annas and had named his son-in-law Caiaphas,
high priest. Caiaphas was the legitimate high
priest. The Jews may have stubbornly
continued to regard him as the high priest. And we don’t know
what title, if any, Annas even held. But he really presents
here as the puppet master behind this entire action. And he wants
the first shot at this one who was deemed to be a troublemaker.
The next morning, Jesus is arraigned before a hastily convened court
called the Sanhedrin. This Jewish court predictably
found Jesus guilty, but they lacked the authority to execute
capital punishment. And so they sought to force Christ’s
case into the Roman legal machinery. First before Pilate, then before
Herod, then back to Pilate, where he ultimately gives in to the
riotous demands of the Jews and condemns Jesus to death on a
Roman cross. Matthew captures the violent
scene that ensues. The soldiers of the governor
took Jesus into the praetorium and gathered the whole Roman
cohort around him. They stripped him and put a scarlet
robe on him. After twisting together a crown
of thorns, they put it on his head and a reed in his right
hand, and they knelt down before him and mocked him, saying, Hail,
King of the Jews. Only John records that at least
initially when they went out, Christ was carrying his cross,
the very instrument by which the cruel Romans would torture
him to death. John 19, 17 says that they took
Jesus and he went out bearing his own cross. Then they marched
him. with great indignity to a predetermined
place of execution outside the city. This was done in accordance with
Jewish law. The fitting and appropriate end
for criminals, malefactors, and rogues was to be executed outside
the city walls. Leviticus 24 14, the punishment
was levied against a young man who had cursed and blasphemed
God. God’s command to Moses? Bring
the one who is cursed outside the camp and let all who heard
him lay their hands on his head and then let all the congregation
stone him. Serious punishment for a serious
crime. But Christ did no such thing.
Another occasion in the Old Testament, a man was found gathering wood
on the Sabbath. And the sentence for this disregard
of God’s law, Numbers 15 verse 35, the Lord said to Moses, the
man shall surely be put to death. All the congregation shall stone
him with stones outside the camp. And that’s exactly what they
did. Well, Jesus didn’t gather wood. But he did heal and he
did do works of God on the Sabbath. But he did so because he was
the Lord of the Sabbath, as he declared. All this to say, execution
outside the camp was an intentional shaming of the perpetrator. It’s
the ultimate walk of shame. as if being symbolically excommunicated
prior to one’s execution. After all, and for religious
reasons, approaching one of the highest and holiest of all the
religious days of the Jews, they could not bear the unsightly
presence of a dead body in the city, or even worse, risk ceremonial
defilement by such. And so this despicable treatment
of marching Jesus out of the city was done intentionally with
an attempt to bring shame upon our Savior. To make things even
more difficult and shameful on Him, they forced Him to carry
His own cross. to carry it toward the site where
he’d be crucified. They forced him to carry his
cross, at least initially. But Jesus, exhausted from all
the horrific events of the previously sleepless night, he must have
faltered at some point. How could he not? He was, after
all, fully human. Think of all that our Savior
had been through that previous 48 hours. It would have included
the events of the previous day leading up to the Last Supper,
the preparation in the Upper Room, and all the events related
to and recorded as occurring in the Upper Room. the celebration
of the Passover, the washing of his disciples’ feet, the institution
of the Lord’s Supper, his discourses recorded in that upper room by
John’s Gospel, four full chapters culminating in the high priestly
prayer of John 17, his protracted season of prayer in the Garden
of Gethsemane, his arrest, His trials, first under Annas, then
under Caiaphas, and then before these Roman rulers, Pilate, and
then Herod, and Pilate again, each complete with horrific beatings. All of this, of course, leads
us to the conclusion that exhaustion forced Jesus to relinquish his
cross. And Luke records it. This grueling
extent of the last few days leaves us surprised that Jesus was even
able to stand and walk, let alone bear his cross all the way to
Calvary. And the synoptic writers all capture this reality and
insert this remarkable piece of detail. We find it in verse
26. And as you begin to glance down,
I want us to look this morning at the heart of the Savior that
is revealed to us even in the midst of His agony. The heart
of our Savior revealed to us in the midst of His agony. Because
even in His most difficult hours, the Lord Jesus Christ displayed,
first of all, a heart of compassion. A heart of compassion. Verse
26 says, when they led him away, they seized a man of Cyrene coming
in from the country and placed on him the cross to carry behind
Jesus. About this Simon, we know next
to nothing. Only his name, Simon, a popular
Jewish name. His place of origin, Cyrene.
The direction of his travel, he’s actually coming into the
city from the country. Matthew and Mark make it clear
that this was no volunteer effort by Simon. They both add that
Simon was pressed into service to bear Christ’s cross. And so they seize hold of this
Simon and force him to assist Jesus by carrying at least a
portion of the cross. The Roman cross consisted of
two pieces, the upright vertical portion and the horizontal portion. It would have been extremely
heavy for one man to attempt to carry. And so it’s almost
certain that Simon did not and could not have carried the entire
cross. It’s probably that he carried
one of the two pieces. Verse 27. Picks up the narrative
following them was a large crowd of people and of women who were
mourning and lamenting him. I originally had these women
in the friends category, perhaps Mary Magdalene and the others
that were so struck with what was taking place
that they followed after Christ in tears. But the closer I looked
at it, especially Jesus’ lengthy reply to these women, the more
I wondered about them. And then I realized these are
professional mourners, common in the culture of that day. It
was, and in some Middle Eastern cultures still is, commonplace
to hire professional mourners for funerals, times of grief.
They were used, of course, as a public and consistent demonstration
of sorrow. Jeremiah 9 captures this similar
scene. Thus says the Lord of hosts,
consider and call for the mourning women that they may come and
send for the wailing women that they may come. Let them make
haste and take up a wailing for us that our eyes may shed tears
and our eyelids flow with water. And so to these women, these
hired mourners, Jesus turns and responds we see it in verse 28
Jesus turning to them said daughters of Jerusalem Stop weeping for
me But weep for yourselves and for your children Let’s be clear
here Jesus isn’t putting these women down for their tears merely
Luke records remember that Jesus also wept and In a passage directly
related to the one in front of us this morning in Luke chapter
19, he captures Jesus as he wept over this very city because he
knew well the grief and heartache that they had brought upon themselves. Luke 19 41 says when he approached
Jerusalem, he saw the city and wept over it. saying, if you
had known in this day, even you the things which make for peace,
but now they have been hidden from your eyes. Jesus wasn’t
against tears. He wasn’t against emotional displays. He wasn’t against weeping. And
truly here, there’s nothing morally wrong that they were in, that
they were weeping for him such as it was. But his point is there
was a far more significant reason to weep. Instead of these symbolic
tears for hire, Jesus tells them that they had a much greater
cause to weep for themselves. Christ recorded appeals here.
These are the only words that he speaks after he was condemned
and before he’s placed on the cross. So they’re significant
for that reason as well. One respected commentator noted
that there’s no recorded occasion for a woman from Jerusalem ever
coming to faith in Christ. And I had to pause and look.
I couldn’t find one either, not yet. And that supports the idea
that the mourners that he’s calling out to were not disciples, but
professional mourners hired to add drama to this scene. to make
a show of pity for the condemned. Christ’s words to them also seem
to support the idea that these are paid mourners, not beloved
disciples. Jesus said, daughters of Jerusalem,
stop weeping for me, but weep for yourselves and for your children.
He’s pointing ominously not only to the impending destruction
of their own city and temple, which he had often foretold,
But of the final judgment as well, weep for yourselves. You, he says, should weep for
yourselves. You are the ones that need mourners. These are words of pity and anguish,
not for himself, but for sinners, for the city of Jerusalem and
its temple, for the Jewish people among whom these women were.
Here is how one Bible scholar put it. His sufferings will be
short and are on the road to glory. Theirs will be prolonged
and will end in shame and destruction. His suffering, even that which
he was currently enduring on the cross, would be short-lived.
Now, probably a matter of hours, if not minutes. But a far greater
torment is coming. And this reality is heart-wrenching
to the Savior, of what they were going to endure and experience.
Weep for yourselves, he says. Weep for your children. And Jesus
is still able, amid all the chaos, to explain himself. And we see
it in verse 29. For behold, the days are coming
when they will say, blessed are the barren and the wombs that
never bore and the breasts that never nursed. This is a terrible
day that Jesus points to. A singularly terrible, awful
day. A day like no other before it.
A day when even the natural bond of motherhood would be ravaged. That those mothers with children
would suddenly lament their own children’s birth. And because
of the impending calamity would wish that they instead were childless. That their beloved offspring
would not have to endure such dread. And look at how horrible
it gets in verse 30. Then they will begin to say to
the mountains, fall on us in the hills, cover us. Jesus isn’t
mocking or making light of their impending pain and suffering
here. Instead, he’s compassionately empathizing with them. pointing
them to these coming events that they might turn in faith from
their sin and to the righteousness that is in Christ. Jesus is likely
here quoting from Isaiah 10 8, pardon me, Hosea 10 8 in a passage
that would be a familiar echo of coming judgment to the Jews.
Hosea 10 8 says the high places of Avon, the sin of Israel will
be destroyed. Thorn and thistle will grow on
their altars. Then they will say to the mountains,
cover us and to the hills, fall on us. Make no mistake. This is no hiding place. The
coming calamity is so great, so horrific that a better alternative
is to be buried by an avalanche of stone. They would be better off dead.
Jesus is mercifully pleading with these mourners here one
last time that they might repent of their sin and place their
faith in Christ as Savior. And Jesus puts things in perspective
in verse 31. Glance at that verse, if you
will. For if they do these things when the tree is green, what
will happen when it’s dry? His point here is simple. The
metaphor was practically proverbial. It’s the contrast between wet
green wood and dry wood. Anyone who’s ever gone camping,
right? Gone up to the hills to sleep
in the dirt. Such a person knows the reality
of this phenomena when they start a campfire. Dry wood burns. Greenwood smokes. And so Jesus here, is he talking
about how to build a campfire? No. He’s pointing out the fact
that what these evil men were doing was totally inappropriate. He, an innocent, sinless Savior,
is akin to the green wood thrown onto a fire. It’s an argument
of absurdity. Attacking and executing him is
akin to trying to start a fire with green twigs and branches. If they persecute him to death,
the sinless savior, what will they do with the common tender,
dry sinners? If they treat the Lord Jesus
Christ in such a callous manner, how do you think they’ll treat
an ordinary individual? So we see Christ here, first
of all, with a heart of compassion. He cares for people. He cares
for sinners. He cares even for these hired
mourners going through the motion of allegedly weeping on his behalf. He cared for them enough to warn
them and appeal to them for the sake of their eternal soul. Jesus
has a heart of compassion. But there’s a second quality
about Jesus that we see as he proceeds to his crucifixion.
And soon we’ll find him on the cross, and these words will orient
from that point. The heart of our Savior is revealed
in the midst even of His agony. Even in His most difficult hours,
our Lord Jesus Christ displayed a heart of compassion and a heart
of forgiveness. Would you begin with me on this
section, verse 32? Two others also who were criminals
were being led away to be put to death with Him. They were
crucified. There they crucified Him and
the criminals. One on the right, one on the
left. Luke is the first of the synoptics to point out that Jesus
was not alone on his journey to the execution. There were
two others, two other men who had been tried and convicted,
except that they were justly convicted of actual crimes, as
we will soon see. They were, as Luke describes
them, criminals. But these are not mere literary
foils for the narrative. Both of these men will figure
in greatly into the overall account. But for now, they are all being
marched as malefactors to the place of execution, a place called
the skull. There are many legends and conjectures
and opinions regarding this place, a hill, a hill that looked like
a skull. The bottom line for all four
gospel writers is not the topography of this place, but the purpose
of this place. It was a place of death, the
place of execution. And having reached this place,
there is no delay. Glanced down at the passage,
Luke simply and abruptly says, they crucified him. Three words,
both in English and in the Greek. They crucified him. The Bible
spares us the horrific details of this cruel form of torturous
execution. Only the most basic information
is even communicated. But history has provided us many
who have characterized this crucifixion experience. William Hendrickson, of whom
I’ve often said, if I were allowed to bring only one set of commentaries
to the island on which I was exiled, Hendrickson would have
to be a strong consideration. He described crucifixion in this
way. It has been well said that the
person who was crucified died a thousand deaths. Large nails
were driven through the hands and feet, among the horrors of
which one suffered while suspended in this manner were the following.
Severe inflammation, the swelling of the wounds in the region of
the nails, unbearable pain from torn tendons, fearful discomfort
from the strained position of the body, throbbing headache,
burning thirst. Another historian noted that
nothing could exceed the agony caused by this most cruel and
horrible punishment. Still, another described it as
the most agonizing and shameful form of execution ever devised. But even he goes on to point
out that whatever physical pain Jesus endured was nothing compared
to bearing the world’s sin as the father poured out his wrath. But note also not only the execution,
but the indignity of placing him not merely among two criminals,
but between them. As Luke says, one on the right,
the other on the left. This not so subtle hint was that
he too was no more than a common criminal. And that too is an echo of the
prophecy of the suffering servant, which passage we heard read earlier. He was numbered with the transgressors,
yet he himself bore the sin of many and interceded for the transgressors. And yet, even even in the face
of all of that, the phony trial, the false verdict, the subsequent
mistreatment, the dull echo of the songs of these paid mourners,
the brutality, the indignity of it all, the crucifixion, the
association with mere robbers. Even with all of that, the true
heart of our savior shines through. And astoundingly, it’s not only
a heart of compassion, but a heart of forgiveness. Would you look
at verse 34? But Jesus was saying, Father,
forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing. I will
point out to you right off the bat that the form of the word
there, Jesus was saying. Jesus started praying a prayer
of forgiveness, and he really never stopped. It was a continual
prayer of forgiveness, One pastor said it well that
as soon as the blood of the great sacrifice began to flow, the
great high priest began to intercede. As we just heard from Isaiah,
he bore the sin of many and he interceded for the transgressors
here amid all of this evil, all of this degrading treatment and
injustice and harshness and wretched deceit All Jesus wants to do
is pray for his enemies. Did you note this? He doesn’t
pray for sustaining grace. He doesn’t pray that God would
overthrow these wicked men. He doesn’t pray that they would
get what’s coming to them. He doesn’t pray that the father
would dull his pain. The only thing he does is pause
and ask for the Father’s forgiveness on these people, because that’s
who he is. That’s his heart of forgiveness,
and forgiveness is what they most need. But there is a grand
question that has captured the minds of believers these more
than 20 centuries. When Jesus says, Father, forgive
them, for they do not know what they are doing, Three times Jesus
references somebody or some group. Them, they, they. Who is it?
Who are they? Historically, there have been
a handful of suggestions. The answer to the question, for
whom did Jesus pray? For whom did he ask the Father
to forgive? Well, one possibility is that
them refers to the soldiers. They needed forgiveness. They’re
mentioned throughout this section. In verse 33, they are the ones
who carried out the crucifixion, complete with beatings and harsh
treatment. In verse 34, they were the ones
who callously divide up Jesus’ clothes. In verse 36, Luke captures
them mocking him. Glance down, if you would, at
verse 34, the dividing of Jesus’ garments here. Luke doesn’t even
take the time to describe the ugly scene. In verse 34, he just
says, they cast lots, dividing up his garments among themselves.
But John gives it a much fuller treatment. Most of his clothing
they ravaged like dogs. But John says that when the soldiers
came to the one costly garment that Jesus possessed, they made
a game out of it, and they cast lots to determine the winner,
the fulfillment of that messianic prophecy of Psalm 22. They had
taken his dignity, now they’d taken his clothes, they were
now taking his life. Luke records that they did something
else, verse 36. The soldiers came up and mocked
him, coming to him, offering him sour wine and saying, if
you are the king of the Jews, save yourself. They offered Jesus this sour
wine, not as an act of kindness, but even itself a mocking of
his predicament. And so all that to say the Roman
soldiers would have to be considered as strong candidates for those
in need of forgiveness, right? But there were other candidates. Perhaps them refers to the people. Mentioned just very generally,
the people, those words could just appropriately be translated
as the Jews, the children of Israel, These are so obscure here as
to almost be imperceptible in Luke’s account. City folk, the
townspeople, those guys. Luke identifies them only briefly
in verse 27, a large crowd of the people. But he doesn’t assign
them with any wrongdoing, neither in verse 35 when he mentions
them again, the people stood by looking on. But these are
not mere innocent observers, as the other synoptic writers
go to point out. Matthew says that these people
were hurling abuse, wagging their heads, mocking him. You are going
to destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days, save yourself.
If you are the son of God, come down from the cross. They know
full well the circumstances surrounding Christ’s punishment. This is
the one that their religious leaders and they themselves had
watched and criticized and accused and in the end joined in the
cries for his death. So these people are good candidates
for those who need the forgiveness for which Christ prayed and asked
his father to give. But there are other candidates. Maybe Them refers to the rulers. Luke communicates it just very
generally here, the rulers. But all we have to do is to compare
with the other gospel writers in their context to see who it
is they’re referencing. Matthew and Mark say it very
clearly. The chief priests, the scribes, and the elders. Those
guys. The rulers, these Jewish religious
leaders, they’re caught in the snapshot of all snapshots, caught
in the act of mocking the Savior in His final painful moments. Luke records it this way. Even
the rulers were sneering at Him, saying, He saved others, let
Him save Himself. If this is the Christ of God,
His chosen one, what is the point of this? They’ve
won, so they think. They got exactly what they wanted,
Christ on the cross, just as they demanded of Pilate. All
they want to do now is rub it in. They wanted to utterly humiliate
Jesus. Dispatching all propriety, all
measure of humility, they stoop to kicking their opponent while
he’s down. tearing at him with their words,
even though he’s just minutes now from death. Well, without
a doubt, these are strong candidates for the Father’s forgiveness
for which Jesus prayed. But there are still other candidates.
Perhaps them, number four, refers to the Roman rulers who sentenced
him, both Pilate and Herod. Luke leaves the perpetrator unnamed,
verse 38, but he only mentions an inscription that the other
gospel writers tell us was Pilate’s doing. John says that Pilate
is the one that ordered a sign be placed over Christ’s head
on the cross, declaring him as king of the Jews. And this was
not only an insulting provocation to the Jews, but it too was mockery. As if to say, some king. One short statement, Pilate slams
both Jews and the Savior. Pilate, the unprincipled coward
who instead of standing on principle, yielded to political pressure
to punish and ultimately sentenced to death an innocent man, the
son of God. He has to be a candidate for
the father’s forgiveness. And there’s a small final fifth
group of candidates. Maybe them refers to the criminals. Do you remember back in verse
32 that there were criminals crucified, one on either side
of our Lord? Well, in what has to be One of
the most absurd displays of arrogance ever recorded, verse 39, one
of those robbers actually joined in on the mockery parade. Look
at verse 39. One of the criminals who were
hanged there was hurling abuse at him saying, are you not the
Christ? Save yourself and us. And so both he and his less outspoken
friend desperately needed forgiveness. Because the clock is ticking
most loudly in their ears. They’re about to die. And so we have five groups of
candidates. All desperately needy of forgiveness. Roman soldiers. The townspeople. Jewish leaders, Roman leaders,
and even these fellow criminals. And so who is it for whom Jesus
prayed? The answer is yes, all of them. I believe that Jesus prayed quite
generally for all of them engaged in this horrific event. The Roman
soldiers who brutalized, belittled, and crucified him, the Jewish
people who mocked, the men who committed crimes, the worst of
which was mocking an innocent savior The Jewish religious leaders,
as well as the Roman leaders who wrongly convicted him, all
of them needed forgiveness. Our beloved friend J.C. Ryle
put it this way. Let us see in our Lord’s intercession
for those who crucified him one more proof of his infinite love
to sinners. The Lord Jesus is indeed most
pitiful, most compassionate, most gracious. None are too wicked
for him to care for. None are too far gone in sin
for his almighty heart to take interest about their souls. The
vilest of sinners have no cause to be afraid of appealing to
a savior like this. Do you hear what he said? Any
one of those people, in any one of those categories, was a candidate for forgiveness. And so we see that Jesus manifests
not only a heart of compassion and a heart of forgiveness for
even the most wretched of individuals, but there’s a third and final
character quality that we see in Christ our Savior. In these
final verses, Verses 39 and following, the heart of our Savior is revealed
even in the midst of his agony. Our Lord Jesus Christ displayed
a heart of compassion, a heart of forgiveness, and thirdly,
a heart of assurance. Verse 39, one of the criminals
who were hanged there was hurling abuse at him saying, are you
not the Christ? Save yourself and us. But the
other answered and rebuking him said, do you not even fear God?
Since you are under the same sentence of condemnation. And we indeed are suffering justly
for we are receiving what we deserve for our deeds. But this
man has done nothing wrong. Well, it’s common criminal, this
well, well deserving of the justice that was even at that moment
being dispensed to him. He takes occasion to challenge
his rude friend. He readily acknowledges that
their punishment is just, well-deserved, they’re getting what is rightfully
their due, and that they too are in the very throes of death. But as for the third friend,
he now declares him to be innocent. He declares Christ to be innocent. Remember, he too had previously
joined in on the mocking of Christ. Luke doesn’t capture it, but
Matthew does. Matthew tells us that the robbers,
plural, both of the robbers were casting the same insults. That the crowd, the soldiers
were casting. But something has happened. Because not only does he stop
with his foolish mocking, instead he reverses course and now declares
Christ as innocent. We have no way of knowing how
he has made his determination, what facts he had been able to
gather there on the cross, what innocence of Christ he had observed,
but we can be assured that as with all conversions, the Holy
Spirit was directly involved. The Holy Spirit had transformed
this man’s heart. And whereas before they were
likely alibis and excuses and nonsense, now there is a humble
assent to the justness of the action against him. And his second declaration is
greater even still, this man, this man has done nothing wrong.
Suddenly, he knows what all believers know, that Christ was tempted
in all things as we are, yet without sin. And so he cries
out to the Savior as only a desperate sinner can. In this prayer of his, there
are no gilded phrases, no flowery words, no ornate language, just
a simple, desperate, undefined plea. Jesus, remember me when
you come in your kingdom. The beautiful thing about this
prayer is that this man, he didn’t even know what he was asking
for exactly. He knew he was guilty and he
knew Christ was innocent. We don’t know if he ever heard
Christ preach or witnessed his miracles or his life giving teaching. He may not even known the full
report about Christ, but he knew enough. He knew the reality of
his eternal soul. Remember me when. He knew of
a future kingdom and that Jesus was the rightful king of this
kingdom. And he knew of Christ’s resurrection,
that even though Jesus, like him, is at that moment being
put to death, he believes that there will yet be life. And he
knew that it would be a good and pleasant thing. He didn’t
know exactly, but he knew it would be a good and pleasant
thing if Christ were even to remember him fondly. He knew that, and that was enough.
And so he makes this simple appeal to the Savior. Verse 42, Jesus,
remember me when you come in your kingdom. He first rebuked
his fellow prisoner, then he acknowledged his own guilt, then
rightly esteems Jesus as innocent. And at last, he repented by appealing
to Christ to remember him, and what a wonderful Savior Christ
is. Because he utters a promise here, not only one that immediately
encouraged this now forgiven criminal, but it echoes into
eternity for all to hear and rejoice. Truly, I say to you
today, you should be with me in paradise. He gives this man
the assurance, the hope that he could not even have imagined
when he opened his mouth to repent. Not just the hope of salvation,
but the full assurance of salvation today. Today, you will be with
me in paradise. And this not after a lifetime
of good works, a long history of faithfulness, some good denominational
affiliation, not even his mode of baptism, because this man
will never be baptized. No, based solely upon his confession
of faith, his simple, unrefined, incomplete faith in his Savior,
whose name he barely knew. And what a glorious promise this
is. He asked for something in the
undetermined future. And Jesus promises. This very day today. Jesus says
he would join Christ in eternal paradise. Jesus wouldn’t just
remember his friend, the thief. He assures eternal communion. Verse 44 says, now it was about
the sixth hour and darkness fell over the whole land until the
ninth hour because the sun was obscured. The veil of the temple
was torn in two. And Jesus, crying out with a
loud voice, said, Father, into your hands I commit my spirit. Having said this, he breathed
his last. Would you humble yourself before him in prayer? Our merciful King, we see you
throughout the pages of scripture from the moment of your birth,
your life, your teaching, your ministries. And we see your heart
so clearly and fully here. Even while you were hanging on
a cross. Crying out to sinners. With a
heart of compassion. The heart of forgiveness. And
a heart of assurance. Gracious God. We who are believers
know this compassion. We sensed it and felt it. We
knew that it wasn’t just a sentiment that there was practical care
for us that you sent your son to die for us. There was a heart
of forgiveness and we know that forgiveness and because we know
that forgiveness, we know that assurance. The Lord is sure as
we’re sitting here this morning, we know that not all know that
compassion, not all know this savior, not all have received
his forgiveness. And not all have that assurance.
And so we pray, Father, that. Having read of him and heard
of this savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, we pray that any in this
room who do not know the Lord Jesus Christ would be compelled
and moved. They’ve never done so. to call
out to you for forgiveness, even as the thief on the cross did,
to recognize your heart of compassion. Lord, would you instill in them
the assurance of their salvation that simply by placing their
faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, they would be saved for eternity,
their sins forgiven, Righteousness in place of sin. Lord, we plead for your spirit. To turn their hearts as you did
the thief on the cross. And we plead that you would begin
your work even now. We pray these things in Jesus
name. Amen.