The good, the bad and the ugly
Luke 23:33, 39-43
Introduction
The last week of Jesus life is such an amazing story. Starting with last Sunday, Palm Sunday, when Jesus rides into Jerusalem with everyone cheering for Him and calling Him the Messiah, then four days later He is arrested for blasphemy, claiming to be the Son of God. Then He is tried and condemned to die on a cross, the death reserved for criminals. He is crucified and rises from the grave three days later.
So many people playing major parts in this drama, the finicky crowd, Pilate who could not make up his mind, Judas who betrayed Him, the religious leaders who felt threatened by Jesus, the disciples who deserted Him and even denied knowing Him, the criminal who was released instead of Jesus, Barabbas, and the two criminals who were crucified with Jesus.
With the behavior of each of these people it is almost as if we can see ourselves in many of these roles, the crowd, the betrayer, the religious people.
Today I would like to look at the two criminals who were crucified with Jesus. The title for today’s sermon is “The good, the bad, and the ugly.”
Video: The good the bad and the ugly theme tune w/pictures
That was one of the best western movies ever made, The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly. Even though it came out in 1966, starring Clint Eastwood, the music has become legendary.
It was a story about three men, one was good, one was bad, and one was just plain ugly.
Today we want to take a look at another group of three men who were hanging on crosses together 2,000 years ago. One was good, one was bad, and one was just plain ugly. The three men were being punished for crimes, but one was not guilty!
We are going to read today in the gospel of Luke but before we do, let’s take a moment and honor God’s Word.
Honor God’s Word
Isaiah 40:8 “The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God stands forever.”
What an incredible book. It stands forever. Every word in it is eternal. We have been looking at some of the reasons why we can trust this book over the past few months, especially when it comes to prophecy.
No other religious book or so called prophet has ever come close to the accuracy of the prophecies of this book. Over 2000 prophecies already fulfilled spoken hundreds to thousands of years before they happened.
Let’s look at an example of a prophecy about Jesus:
In Psalm 22 we read a prophecy about Jesus and the way he was going to die. It describes death by crucifixion which was not even used at that time. This was almost 1000 years before Jesus was crucified and the normal way to punish Jewish blasphemers was stoning at that time. But Jesus was crucified on a cross. The Psalm said He would be on the cross in the daylight hours as well as in dark and His hands would be pierced. He would be surrounded by people who mocked Him. This is exactly what happened to Jesus, even though He hung on the cross in the daytime, we read in the gospels that it was dark from noon to 3PM. Even the exact wording of the mockers was prophesied. Psalm 22 said the mockers would say, “He trusted in God let’s see Him deliver Him.” And this is exactly what the mockers said to Jesus when He was on the cross. Can you imagine, a person a thousand years before it actually happened describing exactly what people are going to be saying to Jesus as He's hanging on the cross? It absolutely boggles your mind. The Psalm even said that the people would gamble for his clothing. This prophecy was fulfilled by Roman soldiers. We read that they bet on who would receive Jesus clothing after He died.
The accuracy of this prophecy is not coincidence. It is not something that Jesus could do himself. Some were fulfilled by Jesus, Himself, some were fulfilled by the religious leaders who hated Jesus, and some were fulfilled by the Roman soldiers and one was fulfilled by God the Father when He made it dark from noon to 3PM.
The statistical chances of this kind of accuracy is in the realm of impossible. Prophecy is one of the ways we can be assured that this book is truly God’s Word and can be trusted, that is why we study it on Sunday morning.
Let’s read the story of the original ‘good, bad and ugly.’
Let’s meet the three men Luke 23:32-33, 39-43
The three men are being led to be crucified! (vs. 32) We don’t know what these two criminals did, but apparently they were caught convicted and sentenced to die along with Jesus.
They reach a place called “The Skull”…..(vs. 33) The three men are then “crucified.” It was the worse way to die. A slow painful death that could sometimes take days before the person died. It was the death of a criminal.
First let’s talk about ‘The Ugly’
The thief on the left was Ugly! (vs. 39)
Definition: Ugly is bad on steroids. It is beyond bad. We are talking not about a person’s looks here; we are talking about the condition of this man’s soul.
His words were selfish and mean! He was spiritually ugly. His attitude made him unattractive. A person may be bad but you don’t have to be ugly!
How sad to be that close to Jesus and miss the opportunity to be changed. Ugly people can be saved, they can be helped but their pride keeps them away. This man died in his ugly sins. I think it is fair to say, he went to Hell!
How many people are like him, just plain UGLY!!! Even when they are confronted with their crimes, they still don’t repent. How easy it is to get mad at others and try to blame everyone else for their problems. That is ugly!
Spiritually ugly is the worst kind of ugly if you ask me. And God and this kind of Ugly don’t get along.
Second let’s talk about ‘The Bad’
The thief on the right represents the Bad! He represents most of us here today. He was not good. He lived a sinful life like the other but he felt bad about what he had done. This is the difference between being spiritually bad and spiritually ugly! He wasn’t going to blame others for his crimes. He knew he had done wrong and he knew he deserved the punishment that he was getting.
It is one thing to be bad, but it becomes ugly when you won’t admit you are bad, when you claim to be innocent or try to blame everyone else for your bad decisions. This man messed up his life. He committed serious crimes and now he was hanging on a cross to die.
I think we are all most like this guy. We all have sinned and we all have done things wrong and mostly we feel bad about it. But this is what is so great about this story. Here this guy, even though he was bad, still knew enough to ask for help. He recognized the difference between himself and the man in the middle, who was good.
We are all going to sin, but are we sorry about our sins, or do we excuse them away. Can we take responsibility for our bad decisions or do we try to blame others? See the difference between these two men.
Both are sinners but only one made it to heaven that day. He was bad but he asked for forgiveness and Jesus forgave him and invited him to heaven that very day! What a great story.
Finally let’s talk about, ‘The Good’
Here we see the ultimate good condemned to die! How could this have happened? How could He go from being the Messiah on Palm Sunday to blasphemer on Thursday and crucified on Friday?
There were many reasons for this, jealousy of the religious leaders, confusion among the people as to what the Messiah was really supposed to do.
But the truth is, Jesus came for this specific purpose. He came to be the sacrifice for all the sins of the world and in order to do this He had to live a sinless life and then willfully give up His life in place of us who were all born under the curse of sin and condemned to die.
The reason the good was on that cross was because He desired to save us from our sins and give all of us a chance for a new life, one free from the bondage of sin.
We know He was good because after He died, we are told that He rose again, because death could not hold Him. He rose from the grave because He overcame the curse of sin, and overcome the consequences of sin, which ultimately was death. Today He is still alive and offering to help anyone who will turn to Him.
Summary
There were three men who died on crosses that day. One was good, one was bad and one was ugly. So the question is which one of these two men on either side of Jesus are you?
The two men on either side of Jesus both had a chance to be forgiven of their crimes and sins, only one asked for forgiveness, only one recognized that the man in the middle was his only chance for salvation. The other was blinded by his pride and hate.
It is sad that people can be so close to Jesus and still not get it. But some of you here today might be like that. Maybe you think you are not really that bad, that you don’t deserve to be punished for your sins. Be careful, that kind of thinking can make a person spiritually ugly.
Recognize your need for the man in the middle, the good one, Jesus. Only He can invite you to spend eternity with Him.
