• The Thief On The Cross - Alistair Begg

  Contributed by Martin Spoelstra on Dec 19, 2023 (message contributor)

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  Scripture:  Matthew 27:33-44, Luke 23:32-43

  Tags:  Easter, Good Friday, Crucifixion, Salvation, Cross, Pride, Arrogance, Thief On The Cross, Alistair Begg  (view more)  (view less)

  Denomination: Presbyterian/Reformed

If you were to die tonight and you were getting entry into heaven, what would you say? If you answer that, and if I answer it in the first person, we've immediately gone wrong. “Because I believed”, “Because I have faith”, “Because I am his”. Loved ones the only proper answer is in the third person. “Because He!” “Because He!”

Think about the thief on the cross…I can't wait to find that fellow one day to ask him how did that shake out for you. Because you were cussing the guy (Jesus) out with your friend. You've never been in a bible study. You never got baptized. You didn't know a thing about church membership. And yet! And yet! You made it, you made it, how did you make it?

That's what the angel must have said (when he got to heaven).

You know like, “What are you doing here?”

“I don’t know”.

“What do you mean you don’t know?”

“Well like… because I don’t know”.

“Well… you know… did you… excuse me let me get my supervisor.” They go to get a supervisor.

“Sir, we have just a few questions for you. First of all, are you… are you… are you clear on the doctrine of justification by faith?”

The guy said, “I’ve never heard of it in my life”.

“And what about… let’s just go to the doctrine of scripture”. Immediately this guy's just staring and eventually in frustration he says, “On what basis are you here?”

The man said, “The man on the middle cross said I can come”.

Now that's the that is the only answer! That is the only answer! And if I don't preach the gospel to myself all day and every day then I will find myself beginning to trust myself. Trust my experience. Which is part of my fallenness as a man. If I take my eyes off the cross I can then give only lip service to its efficacy. While at the same time living as if my salvation depended upon me. And as soon as you go there, it will lead you either to abject despair or a horrible kind of arrogance. It is only the cross of Christ that deals both with the dreadful depths of despair and the pretentious arrogance of the pride of man.

Excerpt from the sermon "The Power and Message of the Cross" preached by Alistair Begg on November 20, 2019.