Sermon Tone Analysis

This morning begins week two of our seven week Journey Toward Easter.

Our text this morning relates the second word from the cross uttered by Jesus.

It is commonly referred to as The Word of Salvation.

The second of Christ’s cross-utterances was spoken in response to the request of the dying thief.

It was no accident that the Lord of glory was crucified between two thieves.

There are no accidents in a world that is governed by God.

Much less could there have been any accident on that day of days, or in connection with that event of all events—a day and an event which lie at the very center of the world’s history.

God was presiding over that scene.

From all eternity he had decreed when and where and how and with whom his Son should die.

Nothing was left to chance or the caprice of man.

God, through the Prophet Isaiah, had announced the event 700 years before it took place:

/“Therefore I will give him a portion among the great, and he will divide the spoils with the strong, because he poured out his life unto death, and was numbered with the transgressors.

For he bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.”/

(Isaiah 53:12, NIV84)

Luke’s gospel, more than any other, proclaimed good news to the despised of his era.

In his gospel, Samaritans—half-bred neighbors despised by the Jews—had a prominent place in the kingdom.

Lower than the Samaritans, Tax Collectors like Zacchaeus could be redeemed.

Even lower than Tax Collectors, Women had a prominent role as followers of Jesus.

And in Luke’s gospel, even Gentiles like the thief on the cross, had opportunity to accept the good news of the Kingdom.

In the spirit of Luke's appeal to the down-and-out, Jesus remembered one of the world's despised as He was dying.

A condemned criminal saw in Jesus more than a dying revolutionary and asked to be remembered in His coming kingdom.

As he was dying, Jesus promised him a place in paradise.

Someone listening to this back-and-forth conversation would think that these two men are psychotic.

But in this conversation between two dying men, Luke shares the true picture.

!

I. GOD'S KINGDOM HAS NO REGARD FOR THE BOUNDARIES OF OUR WORLD

#. why did God ordain that his beloved Son should be crucified between two criminals?

#. certainly God had a reason; a good one, a manifold one, whether we can discern it or not

#.

God never acts arbitrarily

#.

He has a good purpose for everything he does, for all his works are ordered by infinite wisdom

#. when Jesus was crucified between two thieves, God illustrated His contempt for the artificial boundaries men establish between themselves, and between who they think should and should not go to heaven

#. the love of God is for whosoever responds to the irresistible drawing of the Holy Spirit

#. we all know the most famous “whosoever” verse:

* /“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”/

(John 3:16, NIV84)

#. this verse, and others like it, remind us that God's love is measureless and it is limitless

#.

God’s love knows no bounds because it is not an emotion subject to the whims of feeling, but a facet of His essential nature

#.

His infinite, matchless love is best illustrated by examining the lives that Jesus touched while He was on this earth

#.

Jesus touched the lepers and the “unclean” of his society

#. he ate with tax collectors and prostitutes and other sinners of his day

#. he associated with half-breed Samaritans and women, and other outcasts

#. and while dying on the cross, he promises eternal life to a thief

#. in doing so, we see that when the Bible says, whosoever, it means that God is oblivious to the boundaries of our world

!! A. OUR WORLD IS FULL OF BOUNDARIES

#. those boundaries are meant to keep others out or at a safe distance

#. we establish boundaries between ourselves and others in all sorts of ways

#. through race . . .

#. through religion . . .

#. through economics . . .

#. through the “haves” and “have nots” of technologies . . .

#. through geography and many other ways

#.

Jesus came to break the boundaries that exist between men and God and between men and men

* ILLUS.

Many of you know the story found in the Book of Acts where Peter is sent by God to witness to a Gentile named Cornelius.

Cornelius is a Roman centurion—which means he is the military leader of a 100-man company.

Cornelius is also a “god-fearer” which means he was a Gentile who worshiped the one, true God.

He has a vision, and in that vision he is instructed to send for the Apostle Peter who will preach to him words of life.

Meantime, Peter is in Joppa, and he is also having a vision.

Three times Peter dreams of a great table cloth let down from heaven with all kinds of food on it.

Some of the food was “clean” according to Jewish custom and therefore edible.

Some of it was “unclean” food—that is kinds of food that orthodox Jews were not supposed to eat for religious purposes.

In each vision Peter hears a voice commanding him to eat even the unclean food and three times Peter refuses, saying, /“Surely not, Lord! . . .

I have never eaten anything impure or unclean,“/ Acts 10:14 NIV The dream disturbs Peter and while he is contemplating its meaning, three of Cornelius’ servants have come to fetch Peter back to their master.Now Peter, being a Jew, was not supposed to enter Cornelius’ home because Cornelius is a Gentile, and everyone knows there is this ethnic, and social, and religious boundary that must observed.

But Peter enters the home telling Cornelius, /“You are well aware that it is against our law for a Jew to associate with a Gentile or visit him.

But God has shown me that I should not call any man impure or unclean.”/

Acts 10:28 NIV Peter proceeds to preach the good news of Jesus Christ and guess what?

Not only does Cornelius get saved, his whole family gets saved.

Then Peter makes one of the classic statements of evangelistic surprise, /“Then Peter opened his mouth, and said, Of a truth I perceive that God is no respecter of persons:”/ Acts 10:34 KJV

#. through this incident, Peter came to understand the heart of God—the Cross destroys boundaries!

* /“As the Scripture says, “Anyone who trusts in him will never be put to shame.”

For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile—the same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on him,”/ (Romans 10:11–12, NIV84)

* ILLUS.

Ski trip to Utah with John Stowe.

!! B. THE PENITENT THIEF ON THE CROSS WAS A WHOSOEVER

#. the scene appeared utterly hopeless as Jesus is dying on the cross

#. as he hangs there, Jesus certainly did not appear to be a king

#. no one standing before the cross that day, believes that the kingdom of God could be ushered in with such tragedy'

#. the few disciples at the cross certainly had their last hopes in the Messiah dashed at Calvary

#. but Luke adds a new wrinkle to the scene

#. in the midst of pain and death, a thief who was also crucified that day, asks Jesus to remember him when He came into His kingly power

#. who would imagine such a profession coming from the lips of a dying criminal?

#. especially one who earlier in the day had also been hurling insults at Jesus

#. through this picture, Luke remained consistent with one of the themes of his gospel—the good news is also for the despised

#. it is for Shepherds . . .

#. it is for Samaritans . . .

#. it is for Tax collectors . . .

#. it is for Loose Women . . .

#. it is for Even a Dying Thief

!! C. JESUS KEPT THE SAME COMPANY IN DEATH AS HE DID IN LIFE

#. the religious community of our Lord’s day constantly ragged on him about the company he kept

* /“But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law muttered, “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.”/

(Luke 15:2, NIV84)

#. for Luke, this was a great message of hope ...

#.

Jesus is the friend of sinners

#. and sinners need a friend like Jesus because Jesus came to destroy the boundary that sin erects between sinners and God

#.

God’s Kingdom Has No Regard for the Boundaries of Our World

!

II.

GOD'S KINGDOM WILL NOT BE OVERCOME BY EVIL

#. the hope Jesus offers the dying thief is immediate and personal

#.

Jesus told the man, /“Today you will be with me in paradise.”/

#. although the prospects of Jesus’ kingdom looked grim, the power of God was certain