Living and Dying With the Choices That We Make
Luke 23:32-43
Intro: Life is full of choices. Once upon a time there was a court jester who had served the Caliph at Baghdad and his court, keeping them amused whenever they called on him. One day in a moment of thoughtlessness, he offended the Caliph. For his mistake the Caliph ordered that he be put to death. "However," said the ruler, "in consideration of your many years of service, I will let you decide how you will die." "Well," replied the jester, "if it’s all the same to you, O most gracious Caliph, I choose death by old age."
. A few years back, George Jones the country singer came out with a song that reflected on his life. The title of the song was “living and dying with the choices that I’ve made”
. The first verse says this: I've had choices since the day that I was born
There were voices that told me right from wrong
If I had listened, no I wouldn't be here today
Living and dying with the choices I've made
. We all must live and yes die with the choices that we make in life.
. Now while some of these choices may lead to death, we usually don’t get to choose how we die, but we do get to choose how we live. We are the sum total of the choices that we make in our lives.
. Hour after hour, day after day, you make choices, big ones, little ones, tough ones, easy ones, liberating ones, confining ones, selfish ones, selfless ones. At the end of the day, you add up those choices and This Is Your Life, as the old tv show put it.
. God gives us these choices. Look at what he told the Jewish nation as they were in the wilderness in Deut.30:19_20
. Today I have given you the choice between life and death, between dblessings and curses. Now I call on heaven and earth to witness the choice you make. Oh, that you would choose life, so that you and your descendants might live!20You can make this choice by loving the LORD your God, obeying him, and committing yourself firmly to him. This is the key to your life.
.God has always given us choices.
. Adam and eve had a choice in the Garden when they chose to disobey God.
. From the beginning of creation, God has given us the choice of choosing Him.
. As Easter approaches and we prepare to celebrate the greatest event that has ever happened in the history of mankind, we are going to spend some time over the next few weeks looking at what happened on the hill called Golgotha. The place of the skull.
. On this Hill there were three crosses erected.
. One was the cross of our savior Jesus Christ.
. This cross is essential for those who claim a relationship with Jesus Christ; for it was on this cross of Calvary that Jesus voluntarily gave His life for all who will accept this sacrifice for their sins.
. I have heard many preachers refer to this cross as the cross of redemption.
. The other two crosses have been referred to as the cross of rebellion and the cross of repentance.
. All three of these crosses are named because of the choices that were made by those who died on them.
. Lets read our scripture
. Luke 23:32-43: Two others, both criminals, were led out to be executed with him.33When they came to a place called The Skull, they nailed him to the cross. And the criminals were also crucified—one on his right and one on his left.
34Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they don’t know what they are doing.” And the soldiers gambled for his clothes by throwing dice.
35The crowd watched and the leaders scoffed. “He saved others,” they said, “let him save himself if he is really God’s Messiah, the Chosen One.”36The soldiers mocked him, too, by offering him a drink of sour wine.37They called out to him, “If you are the King of the Jews, save yourself!”38A sign was fastened above him with these words: “This is the King of the Jews.”
39One of the criminals hanging beside him scoffed, “So you’re the Messiah, are you? Prove it by saving yourself—and us, too, while you’re at it!”
40But the other criminal protested, “Don’t you fear God even when you have been sentenced to die?41We deserve to die for our crimes, but this man hasn’t done anything wrong.”42Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your Kingdom.”
43And Jesus replied, “I assure you, today you will be with me in fparadise.”
.The first cross we see here is the cross of rebellion.
. The choices of the man hanging there made this a cross of rebellion.
. He chose to spend the last moments of his life mocking Jesus.
. The bible doesn’t tell us what these other two men had done to warrant crucifixion but they were there because of the choices that they had made in their life.
. They would have been guilty of either treason or murder. Those were the only two capital offenses of the day.
. That’s what Jesus had been accused and convicted of in the kangaroo court with Pontius Pilate. He had been accused of claiming to be the King of the Jews and that was treason in the eyes of the Romans.
. That’s why the sign at the top of the cross said King of the Jews. Pilate was showing that Jesus was being crucified for treason.
. This criminal had made choices his whole life that had brought him to where he was right then.
. When faced with a final choice in his life, he chose rebellion.
. Look at verse 39 again; 39One of the criminals hanging beside him scoffed, “So you’re the Messiah, are you? Prove it by saving yourself—and us, too, while you’re at it!”
. The bible says that there were people all around mocking Jesus and telling him to prove who He was by coming down from the cross.
. Jesus had cried out one of the seven saying from the cross already. We see that in verse 34 where Jesus says;
. “Father, forgive them, for they don’t know what they are doing.”
. Obviously this example of mercy and forgiveness had no effect on this man.
. He continued in his rebellion until he died I’m sure.
. The Bible tells the story of Absalom. He was the son of King David — Israel’s greatest king. Through a series of circumstances, Absalom began to despise his father and made plans to become king in his father’s place. He surreptitiously sowed seeds of division and rebellion in his father’s kingdom. In the beginning he did things that did not seem to be a danger, but he was winning the hearts of the people of Israel. The day came when he saw an opportunity and openly led a rebellion against his father David in an attempt to take over his kingdom. David’s greatest fear was that Absalom would be destroyed in the battle, which is what eventually happened. When word came that Absalom had been killed, far from being happy about it, the Bible says, “The king was shaken. He went up to the room over the gateway and wept. As he went, he said: ‘O my son Absalom! My son, my son Absalom! If only I had died instead of you — O Absalom, my son, my son!’” (2 Samuel 18:33).
David’s heart was not to destroy his son, but to save his son, even if it meant dying in his place — in spite of what Absalom thought. Absalom wanted to be king, and the ironic thing is that David may have eventually made him a king. David was not his enemy, he was his father. He loved him in spite of his rebellion. So it is with God when we rebel against him. It breaks the heart of our Father because he loves us and wants to give us the kingdom. He was willing to die in our place. Our rebellion is foolish and self-destructive.
. This criminal was much like Absalom. He had made the choice of rebellion and ultimately he paid the price for his rebellion.
. On that hill there was a cross of Rebellion but there was also a cross of Repentance.
. The cross of Repentance
. The criminal hanging on the other side of Jesus had made choices in his life also.
. These choices had brought him to where he was right then. He was about to die in his rebellion also.
. If we just read Luke’s account of the crucifixion we would think that this man had already known Jesus and believed that He was the Messiah but that’s not the whole story.
. In Matthew and Mark’s account of the crucifixion when they were first placed on the crosses both of the men were cursing Jesus and mocking Him. Something happened though. Something brought this man to the saving knowledge of who Jesus was.
. Think about it. You and two others are hanging on a cross and you and the one of the other men are making fun of the other because He claims to be the son of God.
. You’re there and your hear all of this cursing and mocking and in the middle of all of that you hear him say, “Father forgive them for they don’t know what they are doing”.
. Wow, what love, what compassion, what forgiveness. This criminal heard this and he believed that Jesus was who he claimed to be. The son of God.
. Look at what the man said to Jesus here in verses 40-42;
40But the other criminal protested, “Don’t you fear God even when you have been sentenced to die?41We deserve to die for our crimes, but this man hasn’t done anything wrong.”42Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your Kingdom.”
. If that’s not repentance I don’t know what is.
. He had been hurling insults at Jesus and Jesus spoke and the Holy Spirit melted this cold murderous heart and the man changed direction.
. No longer did he hurl insults at Jesus and mock him. He acknowledged who Jesus was and asked Jesus for his mercy when He went back to the Father.
. We all must find ourselves on this cross of repentance if we are to spend eternity in the presence of Jesus as this man was promised.
. Pat Summerall spent 50 years with the national Football League. He was drafted by the Detroit Lions in 1952 and played with the Chicago Cardinals and New York Giants until 1961. After his retirement from the game, he joined CBS as a broadcaster and in 1993 switched to Fox. During his CBS years he and a fellow broadcaster partied hard off the field. "We raised Cain. I was the first guy at the bar and the last to leave." Summerall was told that if he kept on drinking he was going to die.
After checking himself into the Betty Ford Clinic, his counselor urged him to seek a better life through faith. At age 66, Pat Summerall was baptized. In USA Today he told a reporter that when the minister "leaned me back in the water, I never felt so helpless." Summerall testified, "I knew I just became a Christian. I can’t tell you how great life has been since then."
Baptism is a faith response to the gospel of Christ. In baptism we are indeed helpless. We are sinners in the hands of a merciful God. Every penitent, baptized believer in the whole, wide world is promised the forgiveness of sins and the gift of the Holy Spirit. There is no work involved. We are helpless...But God will help us!
"What can wash away my sins? Nothing but the blood of Jesus!"
. Like the criminal who hung on the cross next to Jesus, Pat Summerall realized that he was a sinner who needed salvation. He experienced the love of Jesus on the cross and his life was never the same again.
. That’s what the cross of repentance did for the criminal.
. That’s what the cross of repentance can do for all mankind.
. Jesus told the criminal what his faith had done for him in verse 43 when He told him:
. 43And Jesus replied, “I assure you, today you will be with me in fparadise.”
. We all can have this assurance if we experience the cross of repentance.
. There was a cross of Rebellion, a cross of Repentance and praise God there was a cross of Redemption there on Calvary.
. The cross in the middle. The cross that Jesus hung on was the cross of redemption.
. Just like the other two men there at the place of the skull, Jesus was there because of his choices.
. Our Savior chose to hang on that cross that day.
. Jesus chose to follow the will of the Father.
. In john 6:38 -40 Jesus says:
. For I have come down from heaven to do the will of God who sent me, not to do my own will.39And this is the will of God, that I should not lose even one of all those he has given me, but that I should raise them up at the last day.40For it is my Father’s will that all who see his Son and believe in him should have eternal life. I will raise them up at the last day.”
. Jesus says that I choose to do what the Father sent me to do.
. To die for you.
. We use words like redemption and substitutional atonement but what this is all about is that Jesus chose to die for me.
. He chose to die for you.
. You see life is all about choices.
. Have you chosen to believe in who Jesus was and is; just like the criminal.
. When we do, Jesus says to us when we die, “today you will be with me in paradise.
. Invitation
*** To my Christian brothers and sisters, thank you for taking the time to read this sermon. I ask that you take another second and score this for me. I am always open to feedback so that I can continue to grow in the proclamation of God’s word.
May God bless you as you continue to strive to walk worthy of His calling.
Sources:
The Holy Bible, NLT
Is That Your Final Answer, Scott Weber
