Seven Words One Friday
"The Word of Salvation"
Luke 23:40-43
Finding Paradise
6 times WV has places like 6
US 100s of places
Lancaster county PA has towns like Bird-In-Hand, Intercourse, Mount Joy, Paradise They visit these small towns because they like the name
Finding Paradise
In the 1980’s a retired couple was they undertook a serious study of all the inhabited places on the globe. Their goal was to determine where in the world would be the least likely place affected by a nuclear war -- a place of ultimate peace and security. They studied and traveled, traveled and studied. Finally they found the place. And on Christmas they sent their pastor a card from their new home -- in the Falkland Islands. However, their "paradise" was soon turned into a war zone by Great Britain and Argentina in the conflict now recorded in history books as the Falkland War.
Matthew 7:21 (AV)
21 Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.
Three Crosses on Calvary
- Mt. 27:44, Mk. 15:32 , Lk 23:39
Matthew 27:44 (AV)
44 The thieves also, which were crucified with him, cast the same in his teeth.
Mark 15:32 (AV)
32 Let Christ the King of Israel descend now from the cross, that we may see and believe. And they that were crucified with him reviled him.
We See on Calvary Three Crosses
Cross of Redemption;
Cross of Rejection;
Cross of Reception
Every one must make a choice concerning Jesus Christ - We must either Accept or Reject the claims made of Him by God’s Word.
One thief rejected Him– One Received Him & Salvation.
Let us look closely at the thief who received Jesus Christ
❶ We See a Representative Sinner
Read Matt. 27:40-44
Man is inherently sinful! Rom. 3:10; 23; Jer. 17:9
Before man can ever be saved, he must first realize he is LOST!
We are ALL Thieves - Robbers of God’s glory and honor
❷ We See A Resourceless Sinner
The thief finally realized his utter helplessness before he came to Jesus.
Rom. 5:6 - "For when we were yet without strength…Christ died for the ungodly!"
John 5:3 - Pool of Bethsaida - "multitude of impotent folk"
Titus 3:5 - "Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy he hath saved us."
❸ We See A Repentant Sinner
Many people change their minds about sin; or some even express sorrow for sin; but few are able to forsake sin!
There is a difference between believing IN and believing ON the Lord Jesus Christ
- One is head knowledge the other is saving knowledge.
- Don’t allow yourself to be deceived into going to hell.
3 Ways to Go to Hell: Deliberately (Rom. 1); Delay (2 Cor. 6:2); Deception (Js. 1:22)
❹ We See A Receptive Sinner
We see 4 Types of Faith in this passage
Head Faith - The thief thought about Who Jesus was - Head faith wants to know Why?
Heart Faith - The thief believed what he thought about Jesus - Heart faith asks Why Not?
Confiding Faith - The thief exercised his faith by calling upon Jesus for salvation - in prayer
Courageous Faith - The thief separated himself from ungodly crowd
- Courageous faith doesn’t care about the world!
❺ We See Relevancy For The Sinner
• Thief Believed in Life After Death - (vs. 40; 42)
• Thief Realized His Own Sinfulness - (vs. 40-41)
• Thief Confessed Sinlessness of Jesus Christ - (vs. 41)
• Thief Confessed the Sovereignty of Christ - (vs. 42)
• Thief Believed in the Saviorhood of Christ - (vs. 42)
• Thief Believed in Christ’s Kinship - (vs. 42)
• Thief Believed in 2nd Coming of Christ - (vs. 42)
• The thief looked beyond the present and believed in the future; He looked beyond the suffering and saw the glory; The Eyes of Faith will always get past the crown of thorns to a crown of the King!
• It would be impossible for Christ to "remember" if He were dead; the thief had to believe that Christ would save him.
Answers to False Teaching of:
• Soul Sleep.
- Jesus Said "Today With Me"
• Purgatory.
- Jesus Said "Today With Me" The Thief Went With Jesus.
• "No Death Bed Salvation".
- The Thief Was On His Death Bed.
• Works Salvation.
- Thief Could Do No Good Works.
• Baptismal Regeneration.
- No River Stream Or Creek To Be Baptized In.
• Too Great A Sinner.
- The Thief Was Forgiven.
• Re-Incarnation.
- The Thief Was Not Coming Back But Going With Christ.
- Importance Of The Word Of God. Ignorance of the word creates Cults
How did the thief come to believe all of this when just before he too reviled the Lord Jesus?
ONLY ONE ANSWER - The Holy Spirit Revealed it to him!
He had heard the Lord say, "Father Forgive them….."
He had read the sign above His head - "King of the Jews"
As the events of Calvary took place, the Holy Spirit convicted his heart and he saw himself lost and undone!
What began as "Head Faith" changed into "Heart Faith"; He repented of his sins, turned toward God and exercised his faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.
The Result is recorded for us in Lk. 23:43 - "Verily I say unto thee, Today shalt thou be with me in paradise."
Romans 6:17 - Explain
