RETURN TO SENDER.
And he said to him, “Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise.”"Luke 23:43, ESV.
Brothers and sisters, today we gather in the presence of the Almighty, holding onto the promise that resonates from the lips of our Savior, Jesus Christ. In the midst of agony and suffering, in the depths of darkness and despair, Jesus uttered these words, “Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise” (Luke 23:43, ESV).
Oh, what a declaration! What a proclamation of hope! In the very hour of His crucifixion, Jesus extends grace, mercy, and salvation to dying thieves, souls hanging on the cross beside Him. This is the essence of our faith, the epitome of God’s boundless love—a love that knows no bounds, a love that reaches even into the depths of sin and shame to offer redemption and eternal life.
These thieves some would say maybe not thieves, but crooks or thugs is my favorite translation. Had come to realize There must be something beyond the acquisition of a goods. there got to more then just the hustler while traditional the two thieves on the side of Jesus on the cross where more thugs than common thieves. They had come to realize that you can still your way into heaven. That while you might be able to still your way into the White House the only way into heaven is by Jesus.
Many people spend all their lives being greedy . Trying to get more stuff. When they finally achieve it, they still secretly feel empty and unfulfilled. They even Lie about how much they think they have mistaking Millions for billions and still not having enough.
Some of us spend all our lives doing absolutely nothing for the Lord. We are constantly around His presence, praising His name, but we do not carry out anything compared to His purpose.
But point 1. Your gonna realize that stuff don’t matter.
• There is a place in the presence of God where crowns lose their luster. There is a place where the accolades of men sound brash and out of pitch.
• There is a place where all our memorials of great accomplishments seem like dusty stones gathered by bored children who had nothing better to collect.
• There are times when we trade success for solace.
In Revelation, 24 elders traded their golden, jewel-encrusted crowns for a tear-stained moment in the presence of a blood-stained Lamb.
Like the 24 elders in Revelation, you must learn to trade a monument for a moment.
Point 2 We all got some thug in us!
The text today says that the two men on the cross with Jesus were thieves. But at some point, aren’t we all thieves. You might not be a jewel thief or a car thief, but you have stolen time away from your prayers and your worship. You have driven someone away from their desire to be with God by your talk about the church or your gossip about ministry.
But I’ve come to tell you today on this Good Friday it’s time to return back!
Every other aspect of creation that receives anything, gives it back to God.
• The cornfields of the Midwest give back seed after the heavens send down the rains.
• The the busy bee fills the air with the testimony of the pollen it has taken from the lilac and the rose but gives back in the sweetness of the honey packed tightly in the comb.
• The mineral kingdom gives strength to the vegetable kingdom.
• The vegetable kingdom is eaten by the animal kingdom.
• Everything reaches the point of return.
• Even an apple tree reaches the point where it needs to give apples back to the ground it grew from?
• Jesus cursed the fig tree because it had soaked up His water and flourished in His sun and yet, after all those blessings, had failed to reach the point of giving back one fig.
Everything needs to know how to return to its creator.
Illustration:
Iv got a lesion I Learned during Covid-19 you all might have known this, but I didn’t know. If you get a package in the mail or from Fed X or UPS and the Box is damaged and all messed up, you don’t even need to open it you can simply mark it return to sender. And the same folks that dropped your package off will pick it up and take it back to the folks that sent it to you in the first place.
Well Church some of us have been beaten and bruised and battered up to a point where we have some soft spots, some turn edges, and some broken glass on the inside. But Jesus has come into our lives so that he can mark us return to sender. I am so Glad that Jesus can see what wrong with us and Mark us Return to sender. Im so happy that my brokenness is not weighted on the scales of justice because I might not make it in , but ole that Jesus saw ma just as I am and Marked me Return to Sender.
Jesus said; Ole God I’m sending Hooker back to his maker
Point 3 confusion.
Oh, I get why yawl or are confused about the two thieves on the cross being able to go back to God even though they were thugs.
Some of yawl are upset because they Got marked on the Cross with Jesus Return To Sender.
Well I believe your problem is you don’t know their Names. Yell don’t know the names of the thieves. Their names where Goodness and Mercy and what Jesus was saying to the two of them was what david said in Psalm 23 verse 6 that Goodness and Mercy shall follow me all the days of my life.
"Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life; and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever" (Psalm 23:6 KJV).
