Christ, the Divider
Luke 23 & 24
Salvation is God’s gracious gift offered to all broken people to deliver from the penalty and punishment of falling short of His demand for moral perfection. ?
This text affirms three great biblical truths:
1. We are saved in a moment of time.
2. We are saved apart from church membership or baptism.
3. We are saved from a life displeasing to God
The standard of God (impossible to attain) should make us long for the grace of God (impossible to earn)!
The thief who was lost teaches us:
1. We die the same way we live.
?2. We can be close to the Savior and still die lost.
3. We can ask to be saved but still die lost.
The thief who was saved taught us:
1. We need to confess our sinful state.
2. We need to ask for God’s grace.
3. We need to believe in the resurrection.
Intro
In his sweeping book, The Case for Christ (pic), self-proclaimed atheist and award winning Chicago Tribune columnist, Lee Strobel chronicles his journey from unbelief to faith in this man known as Jesus of Nazareth. His wife had become a Christ-follower and it so angered him, that he set out to disprove the literal death, burial and resurrection of Jesus. But as he dove into the evidence and consulted with world renown specialists, by the way, many of them atheists or agnostics, in fields like biology, medicine,…., he came to the only rational and logical conclusion: Jesus did in fact die, He was in fact buried for a period of 3 days, and He did actually come back to life. ? This is resurrection Sunday. Favorite day of the year. But I don’t want us to get the cart before the horse. I don’t want us to lose track of the sequencing. Before Jesus walked out of the tomb on that first Easter morning—He had to die.? Why did Jesus have to die? His close friend, Simon Peter put it this way, “For Christ also suffered for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring you to God.” 1 Peter 3:18
Leave that up there. Notice the atonement language—suffered for sins once and for all. From the moment Adam and Eve decided they knew better than God, the shedding of blood has been necessary to wipe clean or cancel the effects of sin. This is why animal sacrifice was instituted, to remind the faithful that their sin rendered them unrighteous before God and worthy of His judgment. Anthropologists find this in almost all ancient cultures as well. There is some element in humans that causes us to instinctively try to atone for our sins. This is why Jesus died. Notice the comparative language: the righteous for the unrighteous. Jesus, being fully human and fully divine, was sinless. That qualified Him to be the perfect sacrifice; the righteous for the unrighteous; the one rightly related to God for the ones who are unrightly related to God. This is why Jesus died. And then notice the relational and redemptive language: that He might bring you to God.” Separated from God because of our sin, Jesus entered into our existence for one purpose: to reunite us with our Maker and the Lover of our souls.? This is not just an historical fact. You know, Something we can believe happened like the Battle of Waterloo or Bruce Jenner’s sex change. The death, burial and resurrection of Jesus is not just an historical fact. Unfortunately, many of us believe it happened, but we have not let that change our lives and our eternities. For many of us, our belief is only a head knowledge, not genuine biblical, life changing, eternity-altering faith.? So I want us to spend some time this morning contemplating the cross. Turn with me to Luke 23:32-43. If you don’t have a Bible, we have free ones at the doorways you are welcome to them. Also, the words will be on the screen for you. (Luke 23:32-43 on screen)
Jesus was and is such a polarizing figure, isn’t He? Mohammed believed that Jesus was a prophet of Allah, but was not the Son of God, nor was the crucifixion and resurrection a genuine occurrence. Thomas Jefferson doubted His divinity and insisted anyone who thought so to be out of touch with reality. In India, people who claim to follow Jesus are being persecuted and some even martyred. In China the same. Same in Saudi Arabia, Iran, and Pakistan.? Even in our own United States, those of us who follow Jesus and hold to His teachings on marriage, morality, and salvation are being accused of spewing hate speech. ? In this passage we just read, we see Christ is presented as the Great Divider. When He was born, He divided all of history into B.C. and A.D. In His earthly ministry, they either loved Him or hated Him. He even said about Himself, “Don’t assume that I came to bring peace on the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. 35 For I came to turn a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; 36 and a man’s enemies will be the members of his household.” Matthew 10:34-35 There are people here today that have been ostracized by their own families and abandoned by their friends for following Jesus.? Even in His death, Jesus divided people. One thief cursed Jesus and railed against Him and said, “If you are the Messiah, save yourself and us with you.” The other thief said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” ? If Jesus were here this morning, He would divide us into two groups. He wouldn’t divide us according to age or beauty or education, or gender or race or wealth, or religion. He would divide us according to one criterion and one only: whether or not we admitted our sinful state and placed our faith in Him alone to save us.? The concept of salvation escapes many in our culture today. Simply put, Salvation is God’s gracious gift offered to all broken people to deliver from the penalty and punishment of falling short of His demand for moral perfection. Quite literally, that applies to all human beings as the Bible states, “For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard.” Romans 3:23. No matter how hard we try, we could never achieve moral perfection. That’s what makes the gospel of salvation based on faith such good news!? This text affirms three great biblical truths:
1. We are saved in a moment of time. This thief declared His faith in Jesus and immediately Jesus said, “Today you’ll be with me in paradise.” No, paradise is not cruise in the Caribbean. It is with Jesus in heaven. Listen: there is a line out there for each of us representing the opportunity to display faith and cross over to Jesus. You may come to it slowly. You may come to it quickly. But there is a point of time where the decision to trust Jesus instantaneously changes us and thrusts us into a new reality called salvation and redemption.
2. We are saved apart from church membership or baptism. This thief had no opportunity to join a church; no opportunity to get baptized; no opportunity to go through confirmation classes. What justified Him before God was His faith in Jesus. Charlie ? story…
3. We are saved from a life displeasing to God This thief was a thief; he must have been a horrible thief—crucifixion was reserved for the worst of the worst. You had to be one bad dude to be crucified. This thief acknowledged that he was a sinner and had lived a life displeasing to God. You might be thinking, well, at least I’m not a thief. Be careful! Jesus said if you even covet something you don’t have, that’s stealing…if you even lust after someone you’ve committed adultery…if you even harbor hate or prejudice in your heart, you’ve murdered someone. If Jesus is right, I’m in serious trouble, right? O my goodness. If being right with God is about me straightening out my life, I’m toast! The more I see the standard God requires, the more I realize that I. Can’t. Achieve. It. That realization makes me long for the grace and mercy of God. I want to be delivered from my life that displeases God and live the life that He has for me. The standard of God (impossible to attain) should make us long for the grace of God (impossible to earn)!
Now let’s turn our attention to these two men crucified on either side of Jesus and see how one of them represents every person here.
The thief who was lost teaches us:
1. We die the same way we live.
Some years ago, Sue and I were on the back patio and noticed something strange: a bluebird had picked up one of the little buckets our grandchildren use to play in the dirt and was putting some worms in it. He’d put a little dirt, then a worm; a little worm, and some dirt. Finally when it was full, he picked it up in his beak and tried to get it up to the nest in the tree. After a lot of effort, he made it, but then fell out of the tree and died. True story? Nah—bluebirds are smarter than that; they won’t get worms and dirt, worms and dirt, and then kick the bucket! But that’s what we do. We don’t call it worms and dirt. We call it our jobs, our portfolio, house, our cars, our overpacked schedule. But I’m here to tell you: it’s worms and dirt! ? I’ve talked to many many people about Jesus who have told me: “Pastor Russ, I’ll get right with God some day; I know I should, but not now.” But it never happens. People usually die the way they live. If you live rejecting Jesus, you will die rejecting Jesus. In all my years of ministry, I’ve only witnessed one death-bed confession. You know why? A person dies the way he/she lives.?2. We can be close to the Savior and still die lost.
This thief was so close to Jesus that he could talk to Him. He could see the nails in His hands and feet. He could see the thorny crown. He heard Jesus say, “Father forgive them; they don’t know what they’re doing.” He was so close, but he died lost.? I’ve talked to many, many people that talked to Jesus, who believed Jesus and them were just fine, but they also admitted that they had never surrendered to Him, never declared moral bankruptcy, and never placed their faith and trust in Jesus alone to save them.
3. We can ask to be saved but still die lost.
This thief said, “Save us.” He wanted to be saved. He begged to be saved. But still died lost in his sin. How so? He wanted to be saved on his terms, not God’s.? There are those here this morning who are thinking: “I’ll surrender my life to and follow Jesus when…I get older, when…I get married, when…I’ve gotten to live my life my way. The three hardest words for the human race are: I. Have. Sinned. And the next three are: I. Surrender. All. Are you trying to gain God’s favor on your own terms?
The thief who was saved taught us:
1. We need to confess our sinful state. This thief admitted he had done wrong. He said, “We deserve what we’ve gotten.”
2. We need to ask for God’s grace. This thief turned to Jesus with repentance and asked, “Would you remember me when you come into your kingdom? Will you accept me as I am?”
3. We need to believe in the resurrection. He somehow knew that Jesus was not going to end up deteriorating in a grave like the rest of humanity. The Bible says, “If you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” Romans 10:9
Would you like to be saved today? Saved from the judgement of God. Saved from the brokenness of your life? Saved for a grand and glorious life here and in the life to come?
Bow heads (band comes out). Prayer for salvation. Come see me after if you prayed that prayer.?
But the story doesn’t end on the cross, does it? No! Hallelujah NO! The eyewitness account reads this way. Look at chapter 24 of Luke, Luke 24:1-6 (on screen)
SONG
