Not all heroes die a noble death. Jacques de Lalaing, the flower of knighthood, who was
considered the pattern of chivalry for all of Europe, and who was called the last hero of romance,
died an early death in 1453. It was not of a lover's broken heart, or in a tournament with his flag
flying. He walked into a cannon ball fired by a shopkeeper in the little town of Ghent. That was
not a very noble way for a hero to die, and the fact is many of the heroes of history die very
ignoble deaths.
There is nothing very glamorous about being fed to lions, or about being burned at the stake,
or even dying in a wreck, or by a disease. When you come right down to it, there are not very
many ways to die that are noble and glorious. It ought not to bother us as to how we die, however,
for this passage we are looking at reveals to us that the very first saint to enter paradise died in the
most horrible and ignoble way. He died on the cross a victim of capital punishment in the worst
possible way. Nevertheless, he is one of the heroes of Christian history. It was not because of the
way he died, but because of the faith he expressed before he died. Because of his faith Good
Friday was good for him long before it was dreamed to be good for anybody else. He was not only
first in paradise, but he was the first man to experience the goodness of Good Friday. He died on
that day, but it was also the day he began to live forever. It was already Easter for him.
When I was just a small boy in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, the lights went dim one night and
we all knew why. The only man ever to be electrocuted in the State Penitentiary, just up the hill
from where I lived, had just come to his inglorious end. Years later I learned that George Sitts had
put his faith in Christ months before he was strapped in that electric chair. He studied his Bible
and wrote his testimony that was published for millions to read. He left this world by a horrible
and disgraceful method, but like the thief on the cross he died in faith.
Faith or the lack of faith is the difference between heaven and hell. There is no way to
over-emphasize the necessity and value of faith. Charles Wesley wrote, "Faith, mighty faith the
promise sees, and rests on that alone; Laughs at impossibilities, and says it shall be done." Only
faith has the audacity to believe in the impossible and be hopeful in a hopeless situation. What
could be more hopeless than to be dying on a cross as a thief, who is being rejected by society?
Such is the setting we see on Calvary, and yet, faith brings a dazzling glory into that dismal gloom.
This dying thief, after rebuking his criminal companion for his lack of faith, and after revealing his
awareness of his own sin and guilt, turned to the center cross and said, "Lord remember me when
you come into your kingdom.
If ever a man had reason to be pessimistic about the future it was this dying thief, whom
tradition has called Dumas. He had no future whatever according to the eye of flesh, but Dumas
saw the future through the eye of faith, and he had hope. He did not say to Jesus that he wanted to
be remembered if he came into his kingdom. He said he wanted to be remembered when he came
into his kingdom. He had complete confidence that Jesus would be a victorious and conquering
King who one day would rule over a kingdom. That conviction was based on faith, for the
evidence for it was conspicuous by its absence. Jesus was dying just like he was. It looked as if
his future was to be short and filled with nothing but pain. He did not have the evidence of the
resurrection like we do. He did not have a long history of the power of Christ to change lives. All
he had to build his faith on was the presence of the suffering Savior.
Tholuck rightly asks, "Did ever the new birth take place in so strange a cradle?" Calvary was
a most unlikely context for a conversion. There was no beautiful church, no glorious music, no
flowers or choir. The environment was all wrong, for it was a setting of horror and hate. The one
positive factor that gave birth to faith, however, was the eloquent love of Christ in the midst of that
hate. "Father forgive them for they know not what they do." It was this attitude of Christ's love
for His enemies that convinced Dumas that Jesus was more than a man. He was convinced that
Jesus had a future even though He was dying. He believed that Jesus would conquer death and
come again and establish His kingdom. Dumas wanted in on that kingdom and so in faith he said
to his new- found King, "Remember me."
Faith enabled him to be optimistic about the future even in his situation. Someone said, "Faith
is the daring of the soul to go further than it can see." Those who live according to what they can
see only do not live in faith. The present facts are often negative, but faith recognizes that the play
of life must be judged by the ending, and not the difficult scenes along the way. Faith believes that
God is an author and director who will bring his production to a happy ending. Francis Quarles
wrote,
My soul, sit thou a patient looker-on,
Judge not the play before the play is done.
Her plot hath many changes, everyday;
Speaks a new scene, the last act crowns the play.
Had Dumas lacked faith he, like all those around him, would have looked at Calvary as the
final scene. It was a dismal conclusion, and his companion shouted out to Jesus, "Save your self
and us." In other words, non-faith says its now or never. If you don't save us now there is no
salvation. Faith, however, says that even this tragic scene in which we die is not the end if there is
a king who can conquer death and establish a kingdom after death. Dumas could read the sign
above the cross of Jesus, which said, "Jesus of Nazareth King of the Jews." He could observe the
reaction of Jesus to the hatred of those around him, and also His love for His mother. This
convinced him that Jesus was the Messiah. He became one of the world's great non-conformists at
this point, and he went against the crowds, the community leadership, and his own companion in
crime to put his trust in this dying King.
Dumas saw none of the miracles of Jesus, but only His misery. No lepers were cured; no
blind were made to see. There was no mass feeding, no storm stilled, and no walking on water.
All the evidence to the eye was negative, and yet he had faith in Christ. If ever a man had faith in
the unseen, it was him. John Calvin wrote, "How clear was the vision of the eyes which could see
in death life, in ruin majesty, in shame glory, in defeat victory, in slavery royalty. I question if
ever since the world began there has been so bright an example of faith." What an example of
salvation by faith alone. He was not baptized and never partook of communion. He never joined
a church and never gave a dime, and he never did a good deed, but that day he entered paradise
with nothing but faith in the one who could save him.
As profound as his faith was, it is also a great example of the simplicity of faith. This thief
did not know the answer to dozens of questions about the future. He did not know how Jesus
could conquer death, rise again and establish a kingdom. He had no answer to the complexities of
end time theology. All he knew was that he trusted Jesus to remember him. If Jesus let him down
he was sunk. Christian faith is simply trust in a person and not a conviction that your creed is
foolproof and covers the mystery of theology accurately. Faith is trust in Christ and a confidence
that the future is bright because He will remember you and receive you into His kingdom. Faith is
always optimistic about the future because it is a trust in the power of Christ to bring any life to a
happy ending. Someone wrote,
If I stoop into a dark, tremendous sea of cloud,
It is but for a time; I press God's lamp
Close to my breast, its splendor, soon or late,
Will pierce the gloom; I shall emerge one day.
Jesus confirmed the faith of Dumas on the spot. He promised him that that very day he would
be with Him in paradise. If ever there was a man who needed a purgatory before paradise it was
him, but Jesus says that He would immediately be with Him. From hell on earth to paradise in the
same day-no one can afford such a trip, for the cost is infinite, but Jesus offers it freely to all who
will, like this dying thief, turn to Him in faith.
