Christ’s Most Remarkable Convert
Chuck Sligh
April 13, 2014
TEXT: Luke 23:32-43 – “And there were also two other, malefactors [evil-doers, or criminals], led with him to be put to death. 33 And when they were come to the place, which is called Calvary, there they crucified him, and the malefactors, one on the right hand, and the other on the left. 34 Then said Jesus, Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do. And they parted his raiment [clothes], and cast lots. 35 And the people stood beholding. And the rulers also with them derided him, saying, He saved others; let him save himself, if he be Christ, the chosen of God. 36 And the soldiers also mocked him, coming to him, and offering him vinegar, 37 And saying, If thou be the king of the Jews, save thyself. 38 And a superscription also was written over him in letters of Greek, and Latin, and Hebrew, THIS IS THE KING OF THE JEWS. 39 And one of the malefactors which were hanged railed on him, saying, If thou be Christ, save thyself and us. 40 But the other answering rebuked him, saying, Dost not thou fear God, seeing thou art in the same condemnation? 41 And we indeed justly; for we receive the due reward of our deeds: but this man hath done nothing amiss. 42 And he said unto Jesus, Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom. 43 And Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, To day shalt thou be with me in paradise.”
INTRODUCTION
There are a lot of remarkable conversion stories in the Bible. Probably the most well known is PAUL’S conversion on the Road to Damascus. Then there was THE PHILIPPIAN JAILOR’S conversion after an earthquake after Paul and Silas’s prison worship service.
There were some pretty remarkable conversions during Jesus’ earthly ministry too. There’s THE WOMAN AT THE WELL—a woman of loose morals—whom Jesus engages in conversation and who believes on Christ after discussing living water. There’s every kid’s favorite story of the tax collector ZACCHAEUS who was so short that in order to see Jesus over the throng of people, climbed up into a sycamore tree and Jesus said, “Zacchaeus, come on down, because today I’m going to your house today!” – He did, and before Jesus left, Zacchaeus had come to faith in Christ.
But in my opinion, the most remarkable convert in the Bible was the thief on the cross. Think of what happened: The paths of three men meeting in death.…
One on each side, with Jesus in the middle.
Two of them were completely guilty; one was completely innocent.
Two paid their debt to society; one paid our debt for sin.
What makes the thief on the cross’s conversion so remarkable?
I. FIRST BECAUSE A REMARKABLE PROPHECY WAS FULFILLED
Verse 32 tells us that Jesus died between these two criminals. We don’t know all that these two men did, but Matthew calls them thieves in Matthew 27:44, which is why we often talk of “the thief on the cross.”
But these were not just ordinary thieves. Historians tell us that crucifixion was reserved only for the most incorrigible criminals. So these were truly contemptible, degenerate, wicked criminals.
Isaiah 53:9 is a prophecy of the Messiah’s death that says this, “And he made his grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death; because he had done no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth.”
All three parts of this verse were fulfilled on the cross between these two criminals. If you read most any commentary on Isaiah 53, you’ll read that the first phrase in the original language means, “they appointed [i.e., determined] his grave with the wicked, but he was with the rich in his death.” They determined for Jesus to die with wicked men on the cross, which fulfilled this part of Isaiah 53:9, but He was also buried in a rich man’s tomb—in the tomb of Joseph of Aramathea—just as Isaiah prophesied. And Jesus had done no wrong whatsoever, including violence or lying. In fact, He had lived a spotless, perfect, sinless life.
And so Jesus fulfilled this prophecy, just as He did many others. There are over 300 Old Testament prophecies concerning the Messiah that were fulfilled in Jesus.
The mathematician Richard Stoner has calculated the odds of 300 prophecies being fulfilled in anyone by chance to be so high as to be practically incomprehensible. He says that the probability of just EIGHT prophecies being fulfilled in one person by chance is 1 in 10 to the 28th power (1:1028).
To give you some idea of what that means, he gives this analogy: Imagine covering the state of Texas with silver dollars two feet deep, and marking one and only one silver dollar with an X and hiding it somewhere in this huge pile of silver dollars. The chance of a blindfolded person finding the marked silver dollar the first time by pure chance is 1 in 10 to the 28th power. This was a remarkable prophecy, one of over 300 fulfilled in the life of Jesus Christ.
II. SECOND, THIS CRIMINAL’S CONVERSION IS REMARKABLE BECAUSE OF THE REMARKABLE PRAYER HE PRAYED. – Look at verses 40-41 – “But the other answering rebuked him, saying, Dost not thou fear God, seeing thou art in the same condemnation? 41 And we indeed justly; for we receive the due reward of our deeds: but this man hath done nothing amiss. 42 And he said unto Jesus, [Now here’s his prayer:] Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom.”
This thief rebuked the other one for his disrespectful words to Jesus. In these verses are four prerequisites for any person to have their sins forgiven by Christ.
1) First he recognized His guilt before a holy God.
He knew he was a sinner. Jesus didn’t pull out a Bible and show him “the Romans Road” to persuade him. He wouldn’t have needed to because this man already knew what a wretch he was.
It’s often not quite so easy to convince people like you and me of our sinful condition. We justify ourselves and compare ourselves to other people. We sin like everyone, but we look at some derelict and say, “Well, I’m not as bad as him, so I must be alright.” Sometimes it’s easier for a wicked, vile sinner to be saved than for a moral, upright citizen. They both are sinners before God, but the wretched sinner KNOWS it.
If you compare yourself to the drug addict or the wife-beater down the street, it’s easy to think how good you are But God doesn’t grade by how we compare to others, but by the standard of His Law, or what we commonly refer to as the Ten Commandments. But when we compare ourselves to God’s Law, we realize we’re not such good people after all.
That’s why Romans 3:19 says, “Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law: that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God.”
What does he mean when he says that God gave us His law to shut our mouths and show how guilty we are before God?
Illus. – I remember when our son Jon was about two years old, we’d gotten him ready to go to a birthday party. He was got him all washed up and dressed in the cutest little solid-white sailor outfit you ever saw. When Susan went to get dressed he asked me if he could go outside. Without thinking—being a typical man—I said “Sure.”
Big mistake! You see, Jon had a strange passion for eating dirt and stepping in any mud puddle he found…and sitting in it if he could! When I came out to check on him, his face and that cute little white sailor outfit was covered with dirt.
I said, “Jon, I can’t take you like that! You’re covered with dirt! I’ll have to wash you up and change your clothes.”
Thinking he would miss the party, he said, “No, I clean.”
“No, you’re not. You’re all dirty. You’ve got to get cleaned up.”
“Uh-uh, I clean.”
“No, you’re as dirty as you can be.”
Well, he kept saying, “I NOT dirty! I NOT dirty! I clean!”
So I took him to the bathroom and put him up before the mirror, and when he saw himself—it stopped his mouth—just like God’s Law stops our mouths from saying how good and clean we are.
The Law and good works can never save a person. The Law shows us our guilt and how spiritually dirty we am before a holy God. And that drives us to Christ where we can be cleansed.
And the truth is, we have all lied; and used God’s name in a vain way; not always honored the Lord’s day and kept it holy; not always honored our fathers and our mothers; and none of us cannot honestly say we have NEVER stolen ANYTHING our whole lives; and we’ve all coveted [which means to desire things that do not belong to you].
The truth is, we’re just as much sinners as this criminal on the cross. But he recognized it; do you?
2) Second, he recognized that he deserved God’s judgment. – He said, “We’re facing condemnation justly. We’re getting exactly what we deserve.”
Being a Jew, he no doubt knew that though his physical death was part of his earthly judgment, he would face God’s judgment in the afterlife. But he doesn’t make any excuses for himself.
Hebrews 9:27 says, “And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment.”
Don’t be deceived—God is a God of love and you can experience His love if you will receive His free gift of salvation, but be assured that if you do not receive that gift, you are under His judgment.
Jesus told Nicodemas in John 3:18 – “He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.”
It wasn’t hard for this thief to see that he deserved judgment, and in fact he honestly confesses it. But sometimes, it’s hard for us to be so honest. But such a realization is necessary to understand our plight.
3) Third, the thief realized that Jesus was completely innocent and undeserving of judgment. – In verse 41 he said, “…but this man had done nothing wrong.”
This is why Jesus could pay for our sin in our place. He was without sin; He never transgressed any of God’s Laws. He never told a lie, stole anything, hated anybody, lusted, coveted, dishonored his parents or dishonored the Lord’s Day. The only reason He was able to do that was that He was God in the flesh and God CANNOT sin.
God came as a human to live a sinless life and pay the penalty for sin. You and I are guilty sinners, deserving of God’s punishment; but Jesus was innocent and pure from all sin, NOT deserving punishment for sin. But He died for us wicked sinners anyway.
Why?—Because he loves us:
Romans 5:8 – “But God commendeth [shows] his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”
John 3:16 – “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”
Jesus even loved this sinner on the cross, and He paid his sin debt for him. And He did the same thing for you and for me.
4) And lastly, this thief exercised faith in Jesus. – Look at verse 42 – “And he said unto Jesus, Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom.”
He called Jesus “Lord”—the designation in the New Testament for Jesus as GOD. There’s no record that this man ever saw a miracle by Jesus, but he calls Jesus “Lord”—that is, he recognized Him as God in the flesh. We have no reason to believe he ever heard Jesus give a sermon, yet he calls him, “Lord,” confessing His deity.
That in itself shows INCREDIBLE faith—to see this dying, bleeding man as GOD. But the next thing he said is even more incredible. He said, “remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom.”
Whoa!—How in the WORLD could he ask something like THAT? This is one of the best verses to disprove that works or anything we do other than believe have ANYTHING to do with being saved. Here was a man who was a crook, a thief, a degenerate, a reprobate. How in the WORLD did he think Jesus was going to accept him into his kingdom with a past like that? What audacity! What presumption!
No, it’s something more.—It was FAITH!
How was he saved?—By FAITH alone, plus nothing, and minus nothing. He just asked Jesus to let him go to heaven—regardless of his past, despite the evil he had done, notwithstanding this long list of evil deeds, and irrespective of enough good deeds to outweigh the bad he had done. He just looked to the Crucified Savior and asked Him to let him into His kingdom.
J.C. Ryle said this, “If ever there was a soul hovering on the brink of hell, it was the soul of this thief. Some would have thought him too wicked a man to be saved; but it was not so.…Surely such faith was never seen since the world began.”
Dear friend, if you would have your sins forgiven and have the promise of heaven, you will have to come exactly the way he did:
• You must admit you are a guilty sinner before a holy God.
• You must realize you are under God’s judgment because of your sin.
• You must acknowledge that innocent, sinless Jesus—the Son of God—paid the penalty for your sin in your place on the cross.
• And you must believe that if you ask him to forgive you of all your sins, He’ll do it!
Do you believe that? Let me urge you to place your faith in the perfect Lamb of God this morning.
III. THE THIRD REASON THIS THIEF’S CONVERSION IS SO REMARKABLE IS BECAUSE OF JESUS’S REMARKABLE PROMISE – Look at verse 43 – “And Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, Today shalt thou be with me in paradise.”
This is the only promise of Jesus on the cross. He made seven statements on that terrible day:
• He prayed for those who crucified him, saying, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.”
• Next he told the thief on the cross, “Today you will be with me in paradise.”
• To make sure his mother was taken care of, he transferred responsibility for her welfare to John when he said to her, “Woman, behold thy son,” and then he said to John, “Behold thy mother.”
• When He bore the crushing weight of our sin on Himself and God the Father turned His back on Jesus as He bore our sin on the cross, He shouted, “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?”
• As His intense physical suffering became unbearable, and He had lost so much blood, weakly He whispered, “I thirst.”
• Then once the sin debt had been paid in full, Jesus shouted the triumphant cry, “Tetelastai”—one Greek word translated “It is finished,” in the King James Bible, but which literally means in the Greek, “Paid in full.”
• And as He gave up His life, he said feebly uttered His final words, “Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit.”
Only one of these statements was a promise, BUT OH, MAN WHAT A PROMISE!
• “You’ve lived your whole life in sin—but today you’ll be with me in paradise!”
• “You’ve done wicked, vile, evil things—but today you’ll be with me in paradise!”
• “You’ve wasted a life, squandered it—but today you’ll be with me in paradise!”
• “You’ve embarrassed your parents, dishonored God, tarnished the family name, shamed to your village—but today you’ll join me in paradise!”
Wow!—What a God! What grace! What mercy! What love!
CONCLUSION
There are two lessons I want us to go home with regarding this most remarkable convert:
• First is a lesson for Christians: Never give up on your friends who do not yet know Christ, I don’t care how bad they seem to be, or how far away from God or into sin they may go.
There’s no sin too great that God will not forgive if a person repents. There’s no person that God cannot save if he will simply trust in Jesus Christ. Pray for him constantly; share God’s love with her whenever you can; keep inviting him to church; pull her in to your homegroup to experience the reality of Christian community; LOVE them into the family of God by acts of love and sacrifice.
• There’s also a lesson to you pre-believers here this morning: Christ will accept anyone who comes to Him in faith, no matter what your past.
I don’t care who you are, what your background, or what sins you’ve committed. Isaiah 1:18 says, “Come now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.”
