It’s not uncommon for a person who have
been opposed to Christ for his entire life to come to faith near the end. We
even have a term for it, a “death-bed confession.” Through these events we see
that some people try to conceal thoughts about God and Jesus, yet they really think
about them personally. We also see that sometimes it takes the lifelong
persistence of the Holy Spirit to crack the hard exterior of the sinful heart.
As Christians, we rejoice to hear about moments like these, and we remind
ourselves that one can never measure the impact of a “word fitly spoken,” as
Solomon called it. There is no more famous death-bed confession than that of
the repentant thief in Luke’s Gospel. This evening, we are privileged to study
this account as we look at his witness on the cross.
Luke
23:39-43 Then one of the criminals who were hanged blasphemed Him, saying,
"If You are the Christ, save Yourself and us." 40 But the other,
answering, rebuked him, saying, "Do you not even fear God, seeing you are
under the same condemnation? 41 "And we indeed justly, for we receive the
due reward of our deeds; but this Man has done nothing wrong." 42 Then he
said to Jesus, "Lord, remember me when You come into Your kingdom."
43 And Jesus said to him, "Assuredly, I say to you, today you will be with
Me in Paradise."
“I was there!” That’s the name of your
sermon series, correct? I suppose you could say that applies to me better than
anyone else. I was truly there with Jesus in the closest way humanly possible.
I was on the cross next to Him. I heard His final words. I listened to Him
breathe His final breath. I experienced a similar pain as He did. I could
certainly relate with what He was going through, to a point.
I was there with Jesus, just as the
other characters in your series. But, in reality, no one was with Him. What He
did had to be done alone. No one else could experience what He did. As you know
well from the Bible, Jesus was the Son of God and the righteous sacrifice for sinful
humanity. There was no one else like Him, and no one else who could have been
with Him on the fateful Friday outside of Jerusalem.
I could sense the isolation when He
cried out in agony, “My God, My God, why
have you forsaken Me?”. Here was a Man that had truly been forsaken by all,
even His own Father. But it was at that very moment of intense suffering, of
severe loneliness, that I felt for the first time as if I had been found. I
knew what it was like to be lonely. In life, I was a nobody. My parents never
cared enough to raise me the right way. In turn, I was disobedient and
rebellious toward them and all other authorities. I knew what being forsaken
was like. I was an outcast of society. It didn’t help that, in general, most
people were suffering. It was hard to make a decent living in Israel at that
time. We were a nation in disarray and heavily taxed by our occupiers.
But it was also easy to fall through the
cracks. I became adept at staying in the shadows and playing on the fears of
others. At first, I entered thievery because I had nothing else. I justified
stealing from others by telling myself it was the only way I could survive. But
like all wickedness, it grew. Evil does not hold itself in check because of
clever excuses. It grows as rapidly as it can. Before long I was involved in
heavy crime on a regular basis. It was no longer a way to survive but a way to
thrive. As you can imagine, they don’t crucify thieves for small time efforts.
What I did doesn’t matter; but coming to grips with why I did it is much more important.
Anger and bitterness filled my life.
Just like in my daily activities, so also in my mind I had become proficient at
hiding from the truth. I wanted to blame my parents, my fellow countrymen, the
rules of society, and even God for all my problems. I always had an answer to
every question. If my conscience condemned me I would tell myself that I was
just following human nature. I was programmed to serve myself above all. If
society criticized me I would tell myself that they were stuck up and selfish,
that if they helped those like me more I wouldn’t have to steal. If whatever
little notion I knew of God showed I was wrong, I would retort that He was just
made up and that He didn’t care what happened in the world. I had answers for
everything. I was an expert thief, both in body and in mind.
I made up excuses because it was the
easy thing to do. Deep in my heart I knew that I was responsible, even if some
of things I said made sense. I was like a fish in your hands, I could wriggle
and slip out of just about anything. Eventually, my life caught up with me. But
even as I awaited execution in prison, I still fumed with anger and resentment.
Not for my decisions but in defiance to others. I held to that bitterness right
up to the end, even on the cross I spoke as an ignorant fool when I first
blasphemed Jesus. But, it was also the cross that finally broke me. I can’t say
for sure what it was, perhaps a combination of the hunger, fatigue, pain, and impending
knowledge of death, but it was if I finally had woken up. For the first time, I
saw my life in total honesty. I had no one to blame for my position but myself.
For the first time I was literally pinned down. I had nowhere to go. No escape
plan, no more excuses, and no other alternatives.
Sometimes God uses the ways we corner
ourselves with our actions to help us focus on His power. He did this for me on
the cross. Some might pity me or shed tears over my death, but it was truly the
best thing that happened in my life. It was on the cross that I finally became
someone. I had always been on my own but now I had a Friend. As the cross broke
my will, my excuses, and eventually my life, Jesus filled in the void. For the
first time I was special to someone. And that most precious gift came at the
price of God forsaking His own Son.
In my mind it was as if Jesus and I were
walked toward one another on a path. He toward the punishment I earned with my
own actions and I toward the righteous life He earned with His. We walked past
one another that day on the cross, as Jesus finished His journey for you and
me, and I was welcomed into God’s eternal kingdom. As I slowly died on the
cross that day, my mortal body writing in pain and discomfort, a joy came over
my heart that I had never felt before. Here I was, helpless and about to die,
and yet I was as complete as I had ever been in life. To this day, how amazing
it was! I, the thief, stood before God with all my debts fully paid. Me, the
one who spent his entire life evading what was right and good, was allowed to
take one more gift; but this one was not stolen, it was purchased. Purchased by
Jesus, my loving Lord and Savior, the One who cared enough for a worthless
thief whom the world cared nothing for. Jesus loved me so much, that He bought
life for me, so I wouldn’t have to steal anymore.
Dear Christian, it is never too late. It
took that final moment for me to see my Savior. I had always tried to dodge the
truth, always run from one answer to the next. I had to be pinned to a cross,
unable to run in body or soul, for me to confront the truth. What might God be
trying to tell you? How might you be trying to evade Him?
You may think there isn’t much to be
learned from my life, especially for an experienced Christian like you. But
take a moment and consider my story in more detail. It’s only four verses in
the Bible, but they contain a complete expression of the Christian faith. In
fact, perhaps these verses would appeal best to your own culture, with its
fast-paced, soundbite environment. Consider what you would want in a confession
of the Christian faith. What are the pillars of your faith? Repentance of sins,
Confession of the truth, trust in gospel promise of forgiveness, prayer, and
even a defense of the faith amid scoffers. I was able to do all of those things
in my limited time on the cross, and they’re recorded for you in the Word of
God.
You see, I wasn’t much different than
other Christians. And in way, all people can find themselves at the cross.
Ultimately we all fall into one of two categories; those who believe and those
who reject. A repentant or unrepentant thief. And Jesus makes the difference. Jesus
takes our worthlessness, the sins that have turned us into nobodies, and
removes it. For those who will but listen, as I did, His words contain all that
is needed for salvation and eternal life. I didn’t do anything. I couldn’t,
even if I wanted to. All I did was listen, and that’s all you need to do.
Yes, in my short life and through my
even shorter story in the Bible, you are given everything you need in order to
be a Christian. Use me as an example; God does not make the way to heaven
difficult. Only we do, when we try to steal His rightful glory and hide from
the clear truth of His Word.
I know that my story is a source of hope
and inspiration for many. Perhaps I’m even revered among churches and
Christians. But the truth is, I am no hero, no champion of faith. Of all the
things in my life that caused me to find Jesus, the greatest was that I was
simply a sinner. A sinner who lived a life a loneliness. A sinner who was
forgotten by the world. A sinner who lost everything in life. If I wasn’t a
sinner, I never would have found Jesus. I don’t boast about my former ways, nor
am I proud of the wickedness of my life. But, I also appreciate the simple
truth that God receives sinners, even those like me. It took me to the point
that I had nothing left, before I believed that.
You may never lose everything as I did.
You may have many more blessings and comforts in this world. You may never
reach the point of desperation that I was at. But, you don’t have to either.
You are just as lost and lonely in heart and soul as I was. And you have Jesus
as close to you as I did to me. His words still beckon to your heart as they
did to mine. He extends the same gift of paradise to you as to me. You need not
lose everything to have it. It is yours today as it was the day I first heard
and believed it.
Sometimes the pain and agony of life is
a blessing in disguise. Do you know that now? Do you trust that God guides your
life for the best? You should. It took my far longer than it should have to
realize that. But, all the same, God led me through each up and down, through
each moment of foolish sin, and through my own death on the cross. It’s all
there, in my short story. There you have the fullest expression of Christ’s
love for you and for me. There you see His promises fulfilled. He said that He
came to seek and save the lost; that He came to call sinners to repentance, and
that He desired mercy above our own humble offerings. There at the cross, He
kept His Word. He lived up to the expectation that His Father set. You have it
there just as I did. Now it’s your turn to listen, not just to hear. It’s your turn
to trust and to believe. Amen.
The peace of God which surpasses all
understanding will keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.
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