Grace At The Cross

Obviously none of us were there when Jesus was crucified, buried or resurrected, but thank God of by His word, we can go back there. We can go back and visit that time when Jesus was crucified when He was laid in a tomb and when He arose victorious over the grave. We can go there. That's what we're going to do this morning. So I invite your attention this morning to Luke chapter 23. Luke chapter 23. There are different ways that we seek to focus our thoughts from the scriptures whenever we have a communion service. Sometimes we focus on the meaning of communion itself and that's important because we all need to understand what we're doing when we come to a communion service. Sometimes we focus the message on the communion and fellowship of believers and that's important too because 1 Corinthians 10 tells us that this is a communion of believers together. It is a symbol of the unity that we have in the body of Christ and so that's important to recognize as well. But primarily when we come together at communion we focus on the death of Christ because that's what we're really symbolizing with these elements, the death of the Lord Jesus. And one of the best ways to remind ourselves of what happened at the cross and to really see what happened at the cross from God's perspective is to look at the words of Jesus from the cross. What Jesus actually said as he hung there on the cross. The Bible tells us that when Jesus was placed on the cross the first thing he uttered from the cross was these words, Father forgive them for they know not what they do. Then the four soldiers and the one Roman centurion who were responsible for managing and carrying out the execution scene began to gamble for his possessions. Whatever possessions he had on him when he was placed on the cross including a seamless undergarment that they cast lots for to determine who would get that. They gambled for his remaining few possessions. And then the Bible tells us in Matthew's Gospel chapter 27 that the crowd that walked by began to rebuke him, began to mock him and ridicule him and not only the crowd but the chief priests and the rulers, the leaders, religious leaders of Israel. Notice what is said, just listen to these verses. Those who passed by hurled insults at him shaking their heads and saying you who are going to destroy the temple and build it in three days, save yourself. Come down from the cross if you are the son of God. In the same way the chief priests, the teachers of the law and the elders mocked him. He saved others they said but he can't save himself. He's the king of Israel. Let him come down now from the cross and we will believe in him. He trusts in God. God rescuing now if he wants him for he said I am the son of God. They mocked him. They ridiculed him. The interesting thing is that the two thieves, one crucified on either side of Jesus, did the same thing. Both of them. Matthew's Gospel tells us again in the same way the robbers plural who were crucified with him also heap insults on him. But after a passing of some time one of those thieves grows quiet. The other continues to mock one of them grows quiet. And what happens in his heart and life and what Jesus says to him is a beautiful illustration of grace, the grace of God in salvation. Let's read in Luke chapter 23 beginning in verse 39. One of the criminals who hung their hurled insults at him. Notice Luke is a little more progressed in time here because only one of them is still insulting the Lord. Aren't you the Christ? Save yourself and us, verse 40. But the other criminal rebuked him. Don't you fear God? He said since you are under the same sentence we are punished justly for we are getting what our deeds deserve but this man has done nothing wrong. And he said, Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom, Jesus answered him, I tell you the truth. Today you will be with me in paradise. What Jesus said to that thief on the cross and really the thief on the cross himself becomes a perfect illustration of salvation by grace. When I talk about salvation by grace the word grace means that it is a free gift of God that cannot either in part or in whole be merited by us in any way. We cannot earn salvation. We do not deserve salvation. There is nothing we can do to gain or merit God's smile and salvation in our lives. It is totally a free gift of God. That's grace. And the thief on the cross becomes a beautiful, perfect illustration of the grace of God in salvation. In several ways, first of all, he is an illustration of the reason for salvation by grace. When you consider the thief on the cross he becomes a perfect illustration of why it requires that we must be saved by grace alone. The first reason is because we are all sinners. We are all sinful. Certainly, this man was before he placed his faith in Christ, he himself admits, I live a wicked past. I live a wicked life. He said to the thief, beside him, we are punished justly for we are getting what our deeds deserve. He knew that he was a sinful man. He had committed crimes. He knew he was being justly punished for what he had done, the way he had lived his life. So here is a man who recognized that he was a sinner. He himself had been mocking Christ before he came to faith in him. This will see in a few moments. I want to ask you the question, have you ever come to the point where you realize that you are sinful, that you are a sinner? Have you ever seen that because you will never understand salvation, you will never understand why salvation must be by grace until you understand that you are a sinner. Everyone in this room, no exceptions, came into this world with a sinful nature. Everyone in this room, no exceptions, is a sinner. The Bible makes that so clear. Look at what Solomon says in the book of Ecclesiastes, Ecclesiastes chapter 7 and verse 20. He says, indeed there is no one on earth who is righteous, no one who does what is right and never sins. There is no one on earth, no one in here, no one in all the earth, no one who has ever lived on planet earth, who is righteous in the sense that they have never sinned. Not everybody sins to the same degree or to the same level or in the same way or even in the same amount. Not everyone sins in the same amount as other people may sin. But everybody has sinned. I mean, if you have an ounce of honesty and you recognize that, you have said, done, fought things that are wrong, you have had bad attitudes, you have sinned. All of us are sinners. Paul makes that very clear in Romans chapter 3 in this beautiful climax to a progression of teaching where Paul has said, let's look first of all at ungodly wick of Gentiles who live immoral lives. Then let's look at good moral Gentiles who don't have the word of God, don't know anything about the Bible, but they're good moral people. Then let's look at religious Jews who have all the religion you could ever want. Let's look at all three of those and then this is his conclusion as he evaluates all three categories of mankind. He says this, what shall we conclude then? Do we religious Jews, Paul's in that group? Do we religious Jews have any advantage? Not at all. For we have already made the charge, the first three chapters of Romans, we've already made the charge, that Jews and Gentiles alike are all under the power of sin. It goes on to describe in the next few verses as it is written, there is no one righteous, not even one. There is no one who understands. There is no one who seeks God, all have turned away. They have together, notice the emphasis on everybody. They have together become worthless. There is no one who does good, not even one. You say, well, wait a second, that's not fair. I've done a few good things in my life. You may be here this morning and you're without Christ, you've never trusted Him as your Savior and you look at a verse like that and you say, wait a second, I've done some good things. I'm a good person. I'm moral. Paul has just dealt with that in three chapters. He basically has said, regardless of what category you fit in, whether you've lived a wicked immoral life or just a good moral life or even a religious life, there is no one that can say, I'm perfect. And by the way, that's the standard. Look at what Paul says in the next few verses down in Romans 3, verses 22 and 23, when he says, this righteousness, the righteousness that is given by the grace of God, this righteousness is given through faith in Christ or Jesus Christ who all who believe. There's no difference between you and Gentile for all have sinned and fall short of, notice the standard, fall short of the glory of God. Now the standard that you and I have to reach is not our neighbor. It's not the person down the street. It's not someone in the church because all of us can look at someone else and say, well, I do a little better than they do. I mean, they claim to be religious. They claim to be saved, but I live a better life than they do. All of us can find someone else that we favorably compare to. That's not the standard. The standard that God says you must reach is his glory, his perfection. And there's not a person in this room, not a person who's ever lived on planet earth who reaches that standard. And that's why Paul says, we've all sinned. We're all sinners. Have you ever recognized that? Have you ever recognized and understood the fact that you are a sinner? If you've never seen yourself as a sinner, you can never understand salvation being given to you purely as a free gift by God's grace. You will always think I can do something to earn it. I can do something to get into heaven. Surely I'm good enough on this level or that level or I did this. If you don't understand that before God, you fall short of his standard to get into heaven. If you don't understand that, you'll never understand that salvation is by grace. So this man becomes a perfect example of the fact that we're sinful. But he also is a perfect example of the reason for salvation by grace and the fact that we are helpless. We're helpless. Not only are we sinful, we're helpless to do anything to get ourselves into heaven. There's not a thing we can do to get our, there's not enough improvements you can make in your life to make yourself fit for heaven. What a beautiful example of that, this man is, this man could do nothing to better himself. He could not do any of the things that people say you've got to do in order to get to heaven. This man couldn't join a church. He couldn't even start attending a church. This man couldn't get baptized. This man could not start doing good things, serving in the community, helping others, being better to his family. He couldn't do any of that. This man could not do one thing to improve his life. Why? He's dying. He's hanging on a cross. He's dying. He's absolutely helpless to do anything to make himself better so that God would somehow accept him. So he's a perfect example of the fact that we are helpless to save ourselves. He said, well, that's not true of me. I'm still moving and living and I'm still dying. I've still got time. I can get better. I can do that. I can start living. The Bible says you are just as helpless as he was. Look at these verses. Romans chapter four, verses four and five. Paul says, now, to the one who works, wages are not credited as a gift, but an obligation. Now, look at me for just a moment. Focus on that part of the verse. What he's saying is anyone who works a job understands this. You work a job. What you are paid, your employer is obligated to pay you that. That's not a gift. You work for that. You earned it. You deserve it. And the point that Paul is making is, do you think you can work your way to heaven if so? What you're saying is God is obligated to me. I'm putting him in my debt. He's obligated to reward me or to pay me for work that I have done. And that's preposterous. So Paul goes on to say in the next verse, however, to the one who does not work, but trusts God who justifies, declares righteous, the ungodly, their faith is credited as righteousness. There's a whole lot of theology in those verses, but basically Paul is saying, you can't work your way to heaven. You're helpless to work your way to heaven. The only way you can get to heaven is if you trust Jesus as your Savior and God takes the righteousness of Christ and credits that to your account in heaven and changes the record books in heaven. It's not anything you do. So you're helpless to save yourself. Paul makes that even more clear in the next chapter, Romans chapter 5 and verse 6 when he says, you see at just the right time, when we were still, look at the word, powerless Christ died for the ungodly. Christ died when we were powerless to save ourselves. He made the provision for us when we could not save ourselves. And so that's why Paul goes on to say in Titus chapter 3 and verse 5, he saved us not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth, new birth, regeneration, renewal by the Holy Spirit, he says. So it is God's work to save us. He does that by a gracious gift. It's nothing you can earn. It's nothing you can deserve. It's nothing you can work for. You are helpless to get yourself to heaven. Salvation is totally dependent on God's free gift to you. This man's a beautiful example of that. He lays dying or lays hanging on a cross, dying in his last moments of life. There's nothing he can do. He knows he's a sinner and there's nothing he can do to change his life. He simply trusts Christ. And that leads me to the second example that he gives us. And that is he is a perfect example of the reception of salvation by grace. How is this gracious offer of salvation? How is it to be received by us? It is received by faith. Paul says it clearly in Ephesians 2 verses 8 and 9. He says for it is by grace, God makes it available freely as a gift. It is by grace you have been saved through faith. In other words, faith is the channel by which we receive that gracious gift of God. It is through faith. This, the word this refers back to the whole package of saved salvation. This is not from yourself. Salvation is not from yourselves. It is the gift of God not by works so that no one can boast. This thief is a perfect example of salvation by faith alone. This gracious gift is received by faith. Let's look at the thief's story. That happened that caused him to stop mocking Jesus while the other thief continued on. What was it that changed in this man's life? It is very obvious as you look at what he said and we'll look at that in just a moment. It's very obvious when you look at that he had come to a point of trusting the Lord Jesus. Evidently the things he was hearing said about Jesus. He said he was the son of God. He saved others. Save yourself. He claimed to be the king of the Jews. Evidently those accusations began to lodge in his heart and he trusted that they were true. He came to believe that what was being said about Jesus was indeed true. And at some point, although we can't see what happened in his heart, at some point he must have placed his faith in Christ because we know these four things happened. We know he believed these four things. Notice what he said. Verse 41, we are punished justly for we are getting what our deeds deserved. Number one, he believed he was a sinner. He came to believe, to trust what God's word says about I am a sinner. I deserve death. So he believed he was a sinner. Secondly, he believed that Jesus was innocent. He believed that Jesus was perfectly righteous. Notice he goes on to say, but this man has done nothing wrong. How did he come to that conclusion? Evidently the Holy Spirit used the things that were being said about Jesus, many of which remember he said himself. And now those things are being hurled back at him as accusations. Somehow the Holy Spirit used that to cause this man to see that Jesus was indeed the sinless son of God that he claimed to be. And he believed, I deserve this because I am a sinner. This man doesn't, he's perfect, he's righteous, he is the son of God. Thirdly, he rested his eternal salvation. He rested the care of his soul to the Lord Jesus. He trusted that Jesus would take care of his soul when he died. Notice what he says. He says, Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom. Throughout the Bible the word remember is not just used of thinking back on fondly. He's not asking that somehow Jesus, remember him as he suffers in hell while Jesus is in his kingdom. He's saying, remember me in the sense that you come to my aid, you help me, you save me. Remember me. He entrusted the eternal well-being of his soul to the Lord Jesus. That's faith. He believes that Jesus can take him into his kingdom. And that's the fourth thing he believes, that Jesus is a king who has a kingdom. Remember me when you come into your kingdom. So he believed he was a sinner. He believed that Jesus was the perfect son of God. He believed that Jesus could take care of his soul throughout eternity. And he believed that Jesus was a king who had a kingdom. Those four evidences of his faith lead me to believe that the way he received salvation was the same way you and I do. And that is by faith. By faith he trusted the Lord Jesus as his savior. What an amazing evidence of faith. He believes this man who is dying beside him hanging on a cross is a king who has a kingdom. Remember me when you come into your kingdom. He believes that there's something different about this man. He is not just another man. He is the king. He is the son of God. He has a kingdom. What incredible faith this man exhibits here. Now that's the thief's story. What about your story? What about your story? Have you ever come to the point? Can it be chronicled in your story, your life story, that you've ever come to a point where you realize I am a sinner? Jesus is not. He's the holy son of God who came to die for my sins. Have you ever believed that? Have you ever believed that if you trust him as your savior, he can take care of your soul forever? He will bring you into his kingdom, his family, and give you a home in heaven. Have you ever believed? Have you ever trusted? By faith received Christ as savior. That's the only way you can get saved. This salvation by grace is received by faith. And this man is a beautiful example of that. Not only is he an example of the reason for salvation by grace, not only is he an example of the reception of salvation by grace, he also becomes a beautiful and perfect example of the results of salvation by grace. What happens when you trust Jesus as your savior? What results from that? What does God do for you? Result number one is immediate salvation. Immediate salvation. I love how Jesus responded to him when this man reached out in faith to embrace the Lord Jesus. Jesus did not say to him, well, no, wait a second, you're too great a sinner. Look at your life. Look at what you've done. You're too big a sinner. Don't come crying to me now. Jesus did not say to him, you're too late. You've waited till the last moments of your life. That's not fair. You lived your whole life for yourself and for sin. And now you expect me to save you and your last, Jesus didn't say that, did he? Jesus did not say to him, I'm going to put you on probation. This man doesn't have time for probation. This man doesn't have time to prove himself. When he turned to Christ, immediately he was saved. In that moment, he was saved. Jesus said, today, you will be with me in paradise. This man is going to die today. He's going to die in a few moments or a few hours at best. He's going to die today. And Jesus says, today, you will be with me in paradise. Never think my friend that you're too sinful for God to save you. I don't care what you've done. I don't care what your past has been like. You can experience immediate forgiveness and salvation and immediately be in the family of God if you'll trust Jesus as your savior. Never think you're too sinful. Never think your past has been too wicked. Never think that God is too busy fighting the devil about this world. Never think that God is too busy running the affairs of the universe to notice your cry of faith. The taunts of wicked men would not move Jesus to respond, but the cry of faith from one sinner called a response forth from him. He is attentive to the cry of a sinner. And when you come to the end of yourself and realize you need Jesus, he is there to listen. Immediately, he will save you. Never think that, oh, it's not the right time. This man didn't have any more time. The right time is whenever you realize you need Christ, that's the time for you to be saved. And God will answer and immediately save you. Today, you will be with me in paradise. But not only immediate salvation, complete salvation is this man's. There's nothing that needs to be done to add to whatever God offers him by way of salvation. It is complete salvation. People try to add two things to the grace of God to save them. Number one, some people try to add their own goodness to get themselves fit for God to save, to make themselves worthy for God to save. So a lot of people think, well, I've got to clean up my life. I got to quit this habit first and let me get a few things straightened out. And then I'll consider being saved. That's not the way it works, my friend. This man had no opportunity to do that. Secondly, some people say, once I get saved, I've got to keep it by my own good works. I've got to somehow keep my salvation by proving myself and by my own good works. Not possible for this man either. He doesn't have time for that. He can't do that. Listen, salvation is completely of the grace of God from beginning to end. He saves us. He keeps us. He makes us fit for heaven. Salvation is completely by the grace of God or it is not at all. It's one or the other. Paul deals with both of those things in the book of Galatians, by the way. You can't do anything to get yourself prepared, ready, fit, worthy for Jesus to save and you can't do anything to keep yourself saved either. It is the grace of God that hangs on to you once you're saved. By the way, that doesn't mean you can live any way you want to. If you feel that way, you don't understand the grace of God. Because Titus 2 tells us it is the grace of God that teaches us to deny ungodliness and sinful us and to live soberly and righteousnessly and godly in this present world. That's what the grace of God does for you. When you get saved by the grace of God, your life changes. You cannot have the attitude. I live any way I want to. I live for the devil because now I've got my fire insurance. I'm going to heaven. You can't do that. It's not the grace of God. So the grace of God saves completely. This man could not add anything to the gift of God's grace and neither can you. But thirdly, and I love this, he was given a home in heaven. Immediately, a home in heaven was his. I love the difference in his request and Jesus answer. His request is remember me when you come into your kingdom. Jesus says, I'll do better than that. We're not going to wait till I come into my kingdom at some future time. Today, today, you will, you, today, you, you will be certainty. Not, you know, I hope you'll be. I think you might, but you will be with me. Jesus says in paradise. By the way, that's not some chamber in the earth. The New Testament only uses word paradise three times. Once here, once in 2 Corinthians 12, where Paul was caught up to paradise and then two verses later, he identifies where that was, the third heaven, the presence of God. And the third time is in Revelation 2 7, where in the paradise of God is the tree of life. That's heaven. That's not some chamber in the center of the earth. Paradise is heaven. And so today, this very day, Jesus says, you will be with me in the presence of my father in heaven, where the tree of life is, in the third heaven, the presence of God. You will be with me in paradise. Now, Satan attacks that. The fact that the moment we get saved, we get a home in heaven. Satan has attacked that down through the centuries, primarily in two ways, with two kinds of false teaching. Satan has attacked this idea that we immediately get a home in heaven. If you were to die the moment after you trust Christ, you would immediately go to heaven. Satan attacks that, first of all, with a false teaching called purgatory. There are some people that believe that when you die, you have to go through a time of purification, a time of the fires burning away the rest of your sin so that you can then be fit and worthy to go into the presence of God. And if you lived a pretty wicked life, you might end up in purgatory for years and years and years before you actually are allowed into heaven after you die. That is a lie of Satan. That's a lie of Satan because the Bible says the moment you are saved, you are already fitted for heaven. You're already qualified. You don't have to go through any purgatory to get qualified. Look at this verse in Colossians 1-12. Paul's praying for the Colossians and he says this, giving joyful thanks to the Father who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of his holy people in the kingdom of light. Paul did not say, I'm praying for you people who God will qualify someday after you die through a whole series of purgatory or fiery judgments before you get to heaven. He didn't say that. He said, you are already qualified. Past tense, indicating that when you trusted Jesus as your Savior, you were qualified. You were made fit and worthy, not because of who you are, but because Jesus, the Holy Son of God, has His righteousness stamped on your account in heaven. What can you add to that? That qualifies you to immediately have a home in heaven. The second false teaching that Satan has foisted upon the church in centuries past is the doctrine of soul sleep. There are those who believe that when a Christian dies, the soul goes into some kind of slumber or sleep and waits until the resurrection. And only then will you be with the Lord. That is a lie of the devil. It really is. I know a lot of folks struggle with that, but the Bible never teaches that your soul goes to sleep. It is the body that goes to sleep. It is the body that you leave behind. The soul immediately goes into the presence of the Lord. Let me give you these three verses that prove it. Second Corinthians 5, 8, Paul says this, we are confident, I say, and would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord. When we are away from the body, what Paul is saying is, when I leave this body, when I die, where do I go into some kind of sleep? No. Paul says, I go to be with the Lord. So the soul immediately goes into the presence of Christ. Paul said it to the Philippians, too. He said in Philippians 1, 23, I am torn between the two. I desire to depart and be with Christ, which is better by far. He didn't say, I desire to depart. I desire to die, leave this body and go through some kind of slumber and sleep until the final resurrection. Then I'll be with Christ. No, he says at the moment I depart, I'm with Christ. And that's why Stephen, the early deacon in the early church, could pray as he was dying, as he was being stoned to death, look at what he prayed in Acts chapter 7 and verse 59. While they were stoning him, Stephen prayed, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit. The Bible says in the verses before that, that he looked up into heaven as he's, as the stones are coming down upon him and he knows he's going to die. He looks up into heaven and sees Jesus waiting there to receive him. Does that sound like to you? Is soul is going to sleep for how many centuries until the resurrection occurs? No, Jesus is ready to take him right now at the moment he dies. And so he says, Jesus, receive my spirit. Your soul, your spirit immediately goes to be with the Lord when you trust Christ as you, or when you die. And when you trust Christ as you save you, you are assured that you already have a home in heaven. This man, today, when you die, you will be with me. There's no purgatory, there's no soul sleep. Today, you'll be with me in paradise. That is a home in heaven. Now, I want to close this message with a caution. Some of you may be thinking, well, that's really great. I mean, this guy got saved right before he died. I think I'm going to wait and do the same. I want to live my own life, how I want to live it. If God really does save people, vice grace, and give them a home in heaven the moment before they die, I'm just going to wait a while. I got too much to do, too much fun to have. Do not presume, do not presume that you can wait until you are near death to be saved. Please remember, there were two thieves who died that day. The other one, as far as we know, died mocking Jesus with an unbelieving heart and went to hell. It is too dangerous to wait, my friend, because you may be thinking, well, I'll wait, I can wait, I'll wait till I know I'm going to die. How do you know when you're going to die? Jesus could come suddenly. Jesus could come back today and you would not be ready to meet him. You could die suddenly. You might kill over a heart attack this afternoon. You might die in your way home in a car accident. I'm not trying to be morbid, just realistic. Nobody knows when he's going to die. And so you could die suddenly and not be ready to meet the Lord. Or you might even be like the other thief. When it comes time to die, your heart is so hardened and unbelief and sin that you do not respond. There was one who did respond. There was one who did not. How do you know which you're going to be when it comes time to die? That's why the Bible says, behold, now's the day of salvation, now's the accepted time. There's no better time to trust Jesus than right now. And if you, like this thief on the cross, will place your faith in Jesus, not in your church membership, not in your baptism, not in your good life, not in any works you may do. If you will place your faith in Jesus and His death for you on the cross, He will immediately, completely save you and give you a home in heaven. And that can happen today. It can happen today. If you're willing to trust Christ as your Savior, I urge you, please do not wait, do not delay another moment. If you're not sure that you're going to heaven, if you've never trusted Christ as your Savior, now is the time to do that. The Bible says that now is the time. Today is the day. Do not wait. Let's pray together. Father, thank you for this beautiful example of salvation by grace. Help us all here today to realize there is nothing we can do to save ourselves. Nothing we can do to add to your grace. I pray if there's anyone here that's never trusted Christ that today they would realize like this man did that their sinner, that Jesus is the Holy Son of God who came to die for them and they'll place their faith in Jesus as their Savior. I pray, Father, that you would be at work in hearts to bring people to a realization of their need of Christ even today, this moment. I ask in Jesus' name. Amen.