Countdown to Easter 2012Part3

Jeffrey Kelly

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Countdown to Easter 2012

Part 3

“The Crucifixion: Remembering His Death”

Luke 23:32-33

This is the third message in a 5-part series called “The Countdown to Easter.”

So far we’ve looked at:

The Supper—Remembering His Body and Blood

The Arrest—Remembering His Passion

And now today: The Crucifixion—Remembering His Death

The two thieves we just read about, crucified on either side of Christ, had opposite reactions to Him, and experienced opposite destinies.

One entered paradise that day with Jesus; the other was swept away to a reprobate's terrible death.

The Holy Spirit decided that the account of these two thieves crucified with Jesus was important enough to place it in all four of the gospels.

Of the four, it is Luke who brings out the brief exchange between Jesus and the two thieves, and the two thieves talking to each other.

Interestingly, Luke never calls these two dying men thieves.

He uses the word criminals in the Greek language, which means, “One guilty of a heinous offence against the law; a felon.”

So the Lord's final hours were spent in company with two heinous offenders; felons; evil doers.

This crucifixion scene presents to us a perfect snapshot of what the cross was all about.

Jesus hanging between two criminals, His presence unavoidable, the necessity of making a decision concerning Him inescapable—it’s all there.

The first thief

The first thief represents the person who rejects Jesus and dies in his sins.

Why would this man, in agonizing pain, only a step away from death, act in such a way?

Let me offer three reasons:

He was following the crowd

The crowd was mocking Jesus, so he just joined in too.

Scripture says, “Then one of the criminals who were hanged blasphemed Him, saying, “If You are the Christ, save Yourself and us” (Lk.23:39).

It was an echo of the crowd who said, “He saved others; let Him save Himself if He is the Christ, the chosen of God.”

It could be that this was the first thieves’ problem his whole life—he was a crowd follower, a people pleaser.

This weakness may have been the very thing that brought him to his terrible fate.

Perhaps he was never able to stand alone, never learned to say “no” to wrong; never developed a strong set of core principles that were more important to him than the opinion of others.

This is why the Bible warns, “The fear of man brings a snare.”

Sadly, this first thief just followed the crowd all the way to a lost eternity.

Secondly, we see that:

This man did not feel guilty for his sin.

Let’s just remember who he was—He was a thief, a robber.

It is the same Greek word used about the robbers in the parable of the good Samaritan, who attacked the traveler on the road, beat him up, stripped him of all his goods and left him for dead.

He had been a violent, evil outlaw.

Finally he had been caught and condemned to death; and now here he was, gasping out his life in agony.

If ever there was a time for him to repent of his sins and seek to be reconciled with God, now was the time!

But there is no hint of remorse, no hint of a sense of guilt in this man.

His conscience was so seared that he gave no thought to his wickedness!

Thirdly, and most significantly, this man did not believe in Christ.

The Bible reveals that he doubted Christ.

He said, “IF you are the Christ, save yourself and us.”

There is a world of unbelief in that little word, “IF.”

He didn’t die with a firm confession of Christ on his lips.

He died a few short hours later uttering the word, “IF.”

He died in his sins. It was eternally too late!

Think of it—The Savior of his soul was right beside him, within his grasp, completely accessible, but he rejected him.

And so it is with every man and woman today.

Jesus said, “Behold, I stand at the door and I knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me” (Rev.3:20).

And that is the end of the first man crucified with Jesus Christ who followed the crowd, was not remorseful for his sin, and didn’t believe in Christ.

Now we come to the SECOND THIEF:

We see that this man had at first railed at Jesus as well, but suddenly changed his tune on the way to death’s door.

With only hours of life remaining, something began to happen.

We read in verses 40-41 of Luke 23 that after the first thief had mocked and ridiculed Christ,

“…the other (criminal), responding, rebuked him, saying:

“Do you not even fear God, seeing you are under the same condemnation? 41 And we indeed justly, for we are receiving the due reward of our deeds; but this Man has done nothing wrong.”

What made the difference in this man?

First,

This second thief FEARED GOD.

He rebuked the first thief for not fearing God. “Do you not even fear God?”

The Bible says that “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom” (Ps.111:10).

Or, turn that around and it says, “If you don’t fear God, you have no wisdom.”

Jesus taught, “But I will show you whom you should fear: Fear Him who, after He has killed, has power to cast into hell; yes, I say to you, fear Him!” (Lk.12:5)

This first thief knew that he was about to face his Maker.

And next we see that:

This man knew he was a sinner deserving to be punished.

He said to the other thief, “For we receive the due reward of our deeds.”

He didn’t offer an excuse list, saying:

“My mother rejected me.”

Or, “My father was a thief also.”

Or, “I just fell among the wrong crowd.”

Or, “Jesus, I never had a real chance at life.”

None of that! Nor do we have an excuse if we don’t repent of our sin.

You may be thinking, “But Jeff, I’ve never done anything like those two men! You can’t fairly compare me to them! I’m generally a pretty good person!”

But that’s not what the Bible says about you and me.

The Bible says, “There is none righteous, no not one.”

It says, “All have sinned and fallen short of God’s glory.”

For instance, Scripture teaches us that to be angry without cause is as the sin of murder.

To lust after someone in our hearts is as the sin of adultery.

And to covet someone else’s goods is as the sin of theft.

Scripture teaches us that God hates pride. EVER BEEN PROUD?

God hates lying. EVER TOLD A LIE?

God’s word condemns the making of empty promises, and careless gossip, and crude jokes. EVER DONE ANY OF THAT?

The Bible condemns being disrespectful towards those who have the rightful authority over us.

It condemns laziness.

It condemns those who treat Him lightly.

It condemns breaking the Sabbath day of rest, and treating it as our own to be used as we wish.

These, and many more, are all sins before God!

This second thief understood his sinfulness before a holy God and confessed it.

And then we also see that:

This man knew that Jesus was completely righteous, and that He was Lord.

He said to the unrepentant thief, “This Man has done nothing wrong…”

He also recognised Him as sinless, and knew that Jesus did not deserve the agony that He was being made to suffer.

Finally, above all else:

This man trusted Jesus to save him.

The last prayer he prayed on earth was, “Lord, remember me when You come into Your kingdom.”

The second thief recognised Jesus as the Lord of the Kingdom of God.

So watch this:

Having admitted his sinfulness, and that he deserved to be punished, this dying thief simply cast himself upon Christ, asking for His mercy.

There could not be a better example of how salvation takes place.

He had not been water baptized.

He never partook of the Lord’s Supper.

He likely had not attended synagogue for years, if ever.

There was absolutely no reason he could offer as to why he should be saved.

All he could do was cast himself on the mercy of Christ.

And that is exactly what he did!

And that is exactly what we must do also.

Each of us needs to recognise that we are no better off than that thief.

All we can do is to cast ourselves on the mercy of Christ as our only hope of salvation.

With only minutes left between him and eternity, This second thief heard words that lifted his crushed soul with hope and joy:

Jesus told him, “Today, you will be with me in heaven.”

“Assuredly, without a shadow of a doubt,” Jesus said, “this is My promise to you, that this very day, you will not only be delivered from this earthly torment and pain; but you will be in Paradise, the garden of God, the place of everlasting delight.