Jesus hung on the cross for six agonizing hours before succumbing to the torture of crucifixion through asphyxiation. During that time, Jesus made seven statements on the cross that were recorded in the four gospels of the New Testament. Each one of these statements is significant and worthy of every drop of your mental power.
I invite you to turn to Luke 23 with me this morning. To prepare our hearts to celebrate Easter in a month, I want you to devote your mind and heart to these seven statements of Jesus while hanging on the cross.
The universal symbol of Christianity is the cross, the old rugged cross. While the empty tomb is the foundation of Christianity, the cross is the focus of Christianity.
Today, we refer to this as Calvary, which comes from the Latin word for “skull.” With no sleep and being bounced from trial to trial, Jesus must endure even more torture. Tucked away in the midst of the agonizing story of Jesus’ death is the famous story of the dying thief.
Today’s Scripture
“One of the criminals who were hanged railed at him, saying, “Are you not the Christ? Save yourself and us!” 40 But the other rebuked him, saying, “Do you not fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? 41 And we indeed justly, for we are receiving the due reward of our deeds; but this man has done nothing wrong.” 42 And he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” 43 And he said to him, “Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise” (Luke 23:39-43).
Three Dying Men
Had you gone to Jerusalem that day so long ago, and had you gone just outside the wall to the north, out through the Damascus Gate, there you would have seen a rocky outcropping. And there, you would have seen three crosses, with three men on those crosses.
During Jesus’ six agonizing hours on the cross, Jesus made seven statements, and none was more shocking than His offer of mercy to the Dying Thief. It’s 9 a.m. on Friday morning, and Jesus is being led to Golgotha, the site of His execution. You would have seen on that one cross a thief to the left. And a thief to the right as well. On that middle cross would have been the very Son of God. Someone has observed that Jesus did not die in a cathedral between two candles. He died on a cross between two nameless criminals. We don’t know the names of either one of these men. It is the only time we read about them in the Bible. Three men died that day on a cross. One was a Savior, one was a sinner, and one was a saint. Each of the three dying men has something to say to us.
1. The Wrong Choice
2. The Right Choice
3. The Only Choice
1. The Wrong Choice
“One of the criminals who were hanged railed at him, saying, ‘Are you not the Christ? Save yourself and us!’” (Luke 23:39)!
He is classically known as the impenitent thief. He ridiculed Jesus in the last hours of his life.
1.1 Jesus Surrounded by Scoffers
He’s just one scoffer among many that day. Jesus is surrounded by scoffers. The priests ridiculed Jesus as did many in the crowds of Jerusalem during that holiday weekend so many years ago. God, the Father, selected some sorry company for Jesus’ last hours. Jesus was a sheep surrounded by wolves, was He not? With convicts on both sides of Him, Jesus hung there for hours, hearing every single syllable of ridicule. Nobody knows who arranged that Jesus died between these two thieves. No, we don’t know how it exactly happened, except it is a fulfillment of scripture because the Prophet Isaiah predicted the Messiah would be crucified with what he called “the wicked” (Isaiah 53:9).
Most of the disciples fled from Jesus. Jesus was left to die among the those who ridiculed him: “So also the chief priests, with the scribes and elders, mocked him, saying, 42 ‘He saved others; he cannot save himself. He is the King of Israel; let him come down now from the cross, and we will believe in him. 43 He trusts in God; let God deliver him now, if he desires him. For he said, ‘I am the Son of God’” (Matthew 27:41-43). And if that wasn’t enough, Jesus was surrounded by ridicule in surround sound for the first several hours: “And the robbers who were crucified with him also reviled him in the same way” (Matthew 27:44).
Today, we would call them hoods, thugs, terrorists, or cutthroat killers. They were not guilty of misdemeanors but the worst felons you could imagine. They were bad dudes. They would kill you for fun or kill you for profit. Sometimes both.
1.2 If You’re the Son of God
Back to our impenitent thief for a moment…. I’m not so going to spend much time on this man because he’s really not worth spending much time on. Listen to his demand again: “One of the criminals who were hanged railed at him, saying, ‘Are you not the Christ? Save yourself and us!’” (Luke 23:39)!
1.2.1 Railing at Him
The word “railed at him” is the word that gives us the word “blasphemy.” He was doing more than insulting Jesus. He was using every profane, vile word in the book. His language was X-rated. Why he was taking out his punishment on Jesus is an entirely different conversation.
1.2.2 His ‘Prayer’
You don’t have to be a religious person to understand this prayer. In fact, all of us have prayed this prayer at one time or another. He says to Jesus in effect, “If you are God, then save yourself and us.” We have all prayed this man’s prayer, “Lord, if you are up there… save me!” You are in the waiting room, and you’re praying, “God… if there is a God, save my daughter.” You find yourself in a mess, and you cry out to God for the first time in years. We’ve all prayed the impenitent thief’s prayer at one time or another.
Here’s this man’s prayer in its essence: “Here’s how I know you’re God if my life goes the way I know it needs to go…” One of the reasons why a lot of people in this room don’t believe or don’t believe very well is because you’ve done the very same thing. At one point, you’ve turned to God at some really difficult time, and you’ve said, “If you’re there, if you’re God, here’s how you can show me. Get me out of this!” Here’s our test: “I know you are God if you agree with me.” The thief didn’t think for a minute that Jesus could be the Son of God and remain on the cross.
When you pray like the first thief, you do not want God. Instead, you want a personal assistant. Jesus doesn’t say one recorded word to the impenitent thief. Jesus doesn’t say one recorded word to those who mock Him.
It’s so easy to miss God. You can be right next to Him for six hours and still miss Him.
1. The Wrong Choice
2. The Right Choice
“And he said, ‘Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom’” (Luke 23:42).
Both men were on the wrong side of Jesus, but one man got on the right side of Jesus. The way the dying thief got on the right side of Jesus is the way same way you must get on the right side of Jesus as well. I want you to notice three steps of change to the dying thief.
2.1 He Came Around
This thief who was wonderfully saved was not so sympathetic to Jesus at first. In fact, Matthew records that at first he, too, was singing in the choir of the critics as they mocked and ridiculed the Lord Jesus: “And the robbers who were crucified with him also reviled him in the same way” (Matthew 27:44).
In the beginning, this second thief ridicules Jesus. He mocked Jesus just as the others did. But somewhere amidst the pain and the agony, a transformation took place. His ridicule turned into reverence. We are not told precisely was precipitated the change in the dying thief. Was it the silence of Jesus who refused to answer His critics? Was it the words of forgiveness: “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” (Luke 23:44)? No matter what caused it, a radical change happened in a matter of minutes.
He Came Around
2.2 He Admitted His Sin
Notice the first words we hear from the mouth of the second thief: But the other rebuked him, saying, “Do you not fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation” (Luke 23:40)?
The first thing we notice is what he says about his sin. He admitted this openly and publicly. He realized his sin nailed him to the cross. The reason he was saved is because he realized he was lost. If you’re going to be saved, you need to realize you have sinned as well.
2.2.1 I’m Not a Convict
“Pastor, I’ve never sinned like this thief. I’m not a convict!” I understand what you’re saying but let me ask you a question, “How much water do you need to drown?” How much water do you need in order to drown? Friend, we all know you can drown in a bathtub just the same as drowning in the Gulf of Mexico. You may not have sinned as much as this convict, but you have enough sin to drown you. Sin is poison, and you don’t need to drink the bathtub full of poison to die. Just a little bit of poison will kill you. No, you have not have sinned like this convict, but you have enough sin running around in you to kill you. I wish everyone here had the same conviction as our dying thief and could say, “I am a sinner.”
2.2.2 He Didn’t Negotiate
Notice this thing: the dying thief never asked Jesus to get him off the cross. Unlike the first thief, he didn’t come to Jesus to negotiate: “I’ll follow you if you agree with my terms.” The first thief is more concerned with saving his skin than his soul. While the second thief is more concerned with saving his soul than his skin.
He Came Around
He Admitted His Sin
2.3 He Asked for Forgiveness
The dying thief realized his sin nailed him to the cross. But he also realized that his sin nailed Jesus to the cross. “And we indeed justly, for we are receiving the due reward of our deeds; but this man has done nothing wrong” (Luke 23:41). I don’t know where the dying thief would have gathered this from. Maybe He spoke to Jesus sometime earlier in their lives. Maybe He heard Jesus preach, teach, and heal. I really don’t know because the Bible doesn’t tell us. I don’t know where he got it, but he did get it: Jesus had never sinned. The Bible describes Jesus on the cross this way: “For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Corinthians 5:21). Jesus never did one thing wrong.
2.3.1 You’re the King
Stop and imagine the scene with me. Caked in dirt and blood, the smell of urine and excrement coming from His body, beaten beyond recognition, the sight and smell of Jesus would have literally been nauseating. The dying thief is not looking at the risen Jesus with a crown on His head. Instead, he is looking at the crucified Jesus with a cross on His back. When everyone else was mocking and ridiculing Jesus, this dying thief was the only one to treat Jesus as a king: “And he said, ‘Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom’” (Luke 23:42). Jesus never looked less like a king than He did on the cross. He thought that there was a future for Jesus when no one else did. Did anyone else in the world think Jesus had a future at this point? The dying thief had the eyes of faith. Somehow he perceived that Jesus was the door to the kingdom of God.
The dying thief had eyes of faith. He asked for grace. He says to Jesus, “I am guilty, but you are guiltless. I am a criminal, but you are a king. I am hopeless, but you are my only hope. I am a sinner, and you are the Savior.”
If this man could believe in Jesus before His resurrection, how can you not believe after His resurrection?
1. The Wrong Choice
2. The Right Choice
3. The Only Choice
“And he said to him, ‘Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise’” (Luke 23:43).
3.1 Your Only Choice
If the first thief made the wrong choice and the second thief made the right choice, then I want to show you your only choice. Your only choice is Jesus. Jesus Himself said, “I am the door. If you want to be saved fine Me. If you want to rest, find Me” (John 10:7-9). Jesus is your only choice.
3.2 How Jesus Died
For Jesus to say anything intelligent on the cross would have been difficult, but for Jesus to say something life-changing was mind-boggling.
A friend of mine passed away two years this week. The end of life was marked by a tragic car wreck. Traveling at a high rate of speed, his truck careened into a bridge station. What I didn’t know until months later was the force of the accident threw him from the vehicle where an EMT found him. The EMT would later say that my friend smiled in the last moments of his life. Then he mumbled some words that were unintelligible in his last breaths. Again, for Jesus to say anything intelligent on the cross would have been difficult, but for Jesus to say something life-changing was mind-boggling.
Crucifixion doesn’t pierce any vital organs. They likely pierce Jesus’ wrists and His ankles. Now, many medical theories have been advanced to describe exactly how Jesus died on the cross. People who died by crucifixion would have no support for their bodies other than being supported by the spike running through their bodies. His dead weight would soon slump down due to His exhaustion. His intercostal muscles would eventually become too weak to function. His lungs would be unable to empty and would fill with carbon dioxide. Jesus would likely die of asphyxia. Again, for Jesus to say anything intelligent on the cross would have been difficult, but for Jesus to say something life-changing was mind-boggling.
3.3 Jesus at His Lowest
When Jesus saved the dying thief, He was at His lowest. He was mocked, ridiculed, and dying in sheer, utter agony. Yet, here even in His lowest point, Jesus could still save. How much more can He save now that He has resurrected! How great is His mercy! If the Savior could save the dying thief while dying, how much more can He do with you now that He has ascended? Again, for Jesus to say anything intelligent on the cross would have been difficult, but for Jesus to say something life-changing was mind-boggling!
Now, you may know where Jesus died, and you may know when Jesus died, and you may even know how Jesus died. But to really experience life change, you must understand why Jesus died.
3.4 The Promise of Heaven
“And he said to him, ‘Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise’” (Luke 23:43).
This man just asked for a place in the back of the bus, and Jesus puts him in first-class.
I like the word “today.” No purgatory, no soul-sleep, but simply absent from the body, present with the Lord. That man’s soul was in heaven before the undertaker heard he was dead.
The first person Jesus took to heaven with him was a murderous, cutthroat thief. What a day for the dying thief! In the morning, he is in prison, at noon punishment, and in the evening, he is in paradise!
When God saved the dying thief, this is God’s way of telling us, “I can save anyone at any time.” Jesus reserved one of His seven last statements to tell everyone breathing that He can save anyone, anywhere! Jesus died to save you, my friend.
3.5 The Dying Thief Did Nothing but Believe
I want to make this crystal clear. This dying thief wasn’t baptized. He didn’t clothe the naked or feed the hungry. He didn’t walk into church, meet the pastor, or give an offering. All he did was confess his sin and confess his faith.
Alister McGrath puts this entire scene together in an Imaginate way for us. Imagine if the dying thief had been interviewed by an angel as he arrived in heaven later that day.
The angel said, “What are you doing here?”
And our friend, the thief says, “I don’t know.”
“What do you mean you don’t know?”
“I don’t know!”
“On what basis on you here?”
“The Man on the middle cross said I could come!”
3.6 Listening to a GPS
A 64-year-old man was driving along with his wife to visit their relatives. Just outside of Chicago in northern Indiana, he was listening to voice instruction to his GPS when his 2014 Nissan Sentra plunged down a 37-foot bridge. He ignored the barricades, the orange barrels, and a large wooden sign that said, “Road Closed,” to go over the edge of the bridge. A 51-year-old wife was killed as a result of his choice. He chose to listen to the “GPS voice” rather than see the “Road Closed” signs in front of him.
3.7 Your Choice
I need to ask you a serious question this morning, “Which choice have you made today?” Two men died on either side of Jesus on that Good Friday. One made the wrong choice and will be separated from God forever. One made the right choice and is with God right now. So many people come to God as the first thief, “God, if you are God, here’s how I’ll know: fix my life. Prove yourself by making my life go the way I think it should go.” But those who have been transformed, “I deserve what’s happening to me. And I don’t ask you to save my skin. Just save me.” They pray, “Remember me, Lord. I need your mercy.”
3.8 Copernicus
Copernicus was a Polish astronomer whose ideas changed the entire way we viewed this universe. When Copernicus lay dying, he prayed this prayer: “Lord, I do not ask the kindness that Thou didst show to Peter, and I dare not ask the grace that Thou didst grant to Paul. But Lord, the mercy that Thou didst show to the dying thief - that mercy show to me. I earnestly pray”
What kind of choice will you make?
Closing Prayer
There is a fountain filled with blood
Drawn from Immanuel’s veins;
And sinners, plunged beneath that flood,
Lose all their guilty stains.
The dying thief rejoiced to see,
That fountain in his day;
And there may I, though vile as he,
Wash all my sins away
