Three Wooden Crosses

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ I believe there is one salvation One doorway that leads to life One redemption, one confession I believe in the name of Jesus Christ ♪ I believe in the crucifixion By His blood I have been set free I believe in the resurrection Hallelujah, His life is destiny All praise All praise to God the Father All praise to Christ the Son All praise to the Holy Spirit Our God has overcome The King who was and is And evermore will be In Jesus' mighty name I believe ♪ ♪ I believe in the hope of heaven He's preparing a place for me Far beyond what hearts can imagine

Ears have heard, our eyes have seen I believe that a day is coming He's returning to claim His right Light the altar, keep it burning See the man who rose up for a God All praise to God the Father All praise to Christ the Son All praise to the Holy Spirit Our God has overcome The King who was and is And evermore will be In Jesus' mighty name I believe ♪ Never be ashamed No, I'll never be ashamed Of the gospel of Jesus Christ How could I ever walk away From the One who saved my life No, I'll never be ashamed Of the gospel of Jesus Christ How could I ever walk away From the One who saved my life No, I'll never be ashamed Of the gospel of Jesus Christ How could I ever walk away From the One who saved my life All praise to God the Father All praise to Christ the Son All praise to the Holy Spirit

Our God has overcome The King who was and is And evermore will be In Jesus' mighty name I believe All praise to God the Father All praise to Christ the Son All praise to the Holy Spirit Our God has overcome The King who was and is And evermore will be In Jesus' mighty name I believe In Jesus' mighty name I believe ♪ ♪♪ ♪ You make a way when I cannot see. ♪ ♪ You are my strength, though my heart is weak. ♪ ♪ You won't let go. You take my place. ♪ ♪ On this battlefield, You go before. ♪ ♪ You're my sword, my shield. I'm not alone. ♪ ♪ You fight for me. You always have. You always have. ♪ ♪ My victory is in Your hands. It's in Your hands. ♪ ♪ Your God of heaven is my friend. ♪ ♪ No weapon formed will get to me. ♪ ♪ The enemy is underneath Your feet. ♪ ♪ My God, my hope. You won't let go. You fight for me. ♪ ♪ You always have. You always have. My victory is in Your hands. ♪ ♪ It's in Your hands. Your God of heaven is my friend. ♪

♪ You fight for me. You always have. You always have. My victory is in Your hands. ♪ ♪ It's in Your hands. Your God of heaven is my friend. ♪ ♪ Oh, I will not fear. The waters will rise. Oh, I will not fear. For You are on my side. ♪ ♪ Oh, I will not fear. The waters will rise. Oh, I will not fear. For You are on my side. ♪ ♪ You fight for me. You always have. You always have. My victory is in Your hands. It's in Your hands. ♪ ♪ Your God of heaven is my friend. You fight for me. You always have. You always have. My victory is in Your hands. It's in Your hands. ♪ ♪ Your God of heaven is my friend. Your God of heaven is my friend. ♪ ♪ There is a river of gladness that pours from Emmanuel's veins. The sinner was plunged beneath the flood and got saved. ♪ ♪ Since then I walked in forgiveness and all of my guilt was erased. The chains of the past are broken at last. I got saved. Oh, I got saved. ♪ ♪ I'm undone by the mercy of Jesus. I'm undone by the goodness of the Lord. ♪ ♪ He restored and made right, he got a hold of my life ♪ ♪ I've got Jesus, how could I want more ♪ ♪ I've seen nothing but goodness ♪ ♪ I've tasted and tasted your praise ♪ ♪ I was so lost and I fell at the cross of God's hands ♪ ♪ Oh, I'm God saved, I'm undone by your mercy ♪ ♪ Jesus, I'm undone by the goodness of the Lord ♪ ♪ I'm restored and made right, he got a hold of my life ♪ ♪ I've got Jesus, how could I want more ♪ ♪ Oh, the love of God gave me his heart and hand ♪ ♪ The love of God won't let me stay the same ♪ ♪ The love of God calls me up higher ♪ ♪ His will is stronger, that's why I'm God saved ♪ ♪ Oh, I'm undone by the mercy of Jesus ♪ ♪ I'm undone by the goodness of the Lord ♪ ♪ I'm restored and made right, he got a hold of my life ♪ ♪ I've got Jesus, how could I want more ♪ ♪ I'm undone by the mercy of Jesus ♪ ♪ I'm undone by the goodness of the Lord ♪ ♪ I'm restored and made right, he got a hold of my life ♪

♪ I've got Jesus, how could I want more ♪ ♪ I'm undone by the mercy of Jesus ♪ ♪ I'm undone by the goodness of the Lord ♪ ♪ I'm restored and made right, he got a hold of my life ♪ ♪ I've got Jesus, how could I want more ♪ ♪ I've got Jesus, how could I want more ♪ ♪ I've got Jesus, how could I want more ♪ ♪ Oh-oh-oh, oh-oh-oh ♪ It was early Friday morning, probably one o'clock or so in the morning, when the soldiers came led by Judas, to arrest Jesus out of the garden of Gethsemane. They took him and they shackled him and they led him away to the house of Caiaphas. Caiaphas was the high priest. Caiaphas' father-in-law, Annas, he was the first one to interrogate Jesus, but that didn't go very well for Annas. And then they took him before Caiaphas and before the Sanhedrin, and they interrogated Jesus. They had a trial. It was a mockery of justice, since you weren't allowed to have a trial in the middle of the night, but that's what they did with Jesus. They hated him so much. And they were trying to find grounds that they could deliver him over to Pilate to have him killed.

But the testimony that was coming forth from false witnesses, it was contradictory. And finally, Caiaphas got so frustrated, he said, I adjure you, said to Jesus, I adjure you by the living God. Tell us plainly, are you the Christ, the son of the blessed one? And Jesus said, yes, I am. And you will see the son of man coming in the clouds with power and glory, quoting from Daniel chapter seven. And when Caiaphas heard that, he tore his robes and he said, blasphemy, what further need do we have of witnesses? You have heard it yourself. What is the verdict? And they said, he is deserving of death. And they spit in his face. And they blindfolded him and gave him slaps in the face and said, prophesy to us, you Christ, who is the one who hit you? Well, at daybreak, they all had to reassemble to give it some sense. of justice because they had to gather during the day. And so at daybreak, first dawn, they gathered and they delivered the sentence. He is deserving of death. And they took him from the house of Caiaphas, the high priest to the house of Pilate. And Pilate was there early in the morning.

This was early, early in the morning on Friday morning. Passover is going to be starting Friday at 6 p.m. They would sacrifice the Passover lambs at 3 p.m. at twilight, in between the evenings at twilight, 3 p.m. Jesus died at 3 p.m. He is our Passover lamb. They bring Jesus to Pilate and Pilate says, what accusation do you make against this man? And they said, well, if he were not an evildoer, we would not deliver him over to you. That's not an accusation. Pilate determined very quickly it was for envy that they had delivered him up. And Pilate began to interrogate them, Jesus. And then he found out he was from Galilee. He sent him to Herod. Jesus went to Herod. He was before Herod, never said a word to Herod. Herod sent him back to Pilate. Pilate said repeatedly, I find no guilt in him. I find no fault in him. And so he wanted him to be released. And they said, no. And he said, well, here, who do you want me to release for you, Barabbas, a notorious criminal, or Jesus? And the religious leaders got the crowd to say, not this man, but Barabbas. And then Pilate said, well, I'll scourge him. And Jesus was scourged, beaten more than any man, as the scripture says in the book of Isaiah.

When they saw him, as Pilate brought him out and said, behold the man. You can see in the movie, The Passion of the Christ, that Pilate couldn't believe how badly he had been beaten. Behold the man. And they said, crucify him, crucify him. And Pilate yielded to their wishes and led him to be crucified. It says in Luke's gospel, Luke chapter 23, and when they came to the place called the Skull, Golgotha in the Aramaic, Calvary in the Latin, they came to the place called the Skull. There they crucified him and the criminals, one on the right and the other on the left. But Jesus was saying, father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing. And they cast lots, dividing up his garments among themselves. That was prophesied in Psalm 22. And the people stood by looking on and even the rulers were sneering at him, saying, he saved others. Let him save himself, if this is the Christ of God, his chosen one. The soldiers also mocked him, coming up to him, offering him sour wine and saying, if you are the king of the Jews, save yourself. Now there was also an inscription above him. This is the king of the Jews. One of the criminals who were hanged there

was hurling abuse at him, saying, are you not the Christ? Save yourself and us. But the other answered and rebuking him, saying, do you not even fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? And we indeed are suffering justly, for we are receiving what we deserve for our deeds. But this man has done nothing wrong. And he was saying, Jesus, remember me when you come in your kingdom? And he said to him, truly, I say to you, today you shall be with me in paradise. Have you considered the three crosses of Calvary? I want us to look at those three crosses this morning, as we prepare our hearts to proclaim his death until he comes to celebrate in the Lord's supper. Cross number one is the cross of the Savior. The man that they put on the middle cross. Why was Jesus crucified? Why was he on the cross? What crime did he commit? Crucifixion was reserved for the worst of criminals. Not everybody. I mean, if you swiped some kind of item at the store that was worth a hundred dollars. a couple of bucks in our value system, our monetary system, would you get crucified for that? Of course not. It was a capital crime, a crime against Rome,

and it was reserved for the worst of sinners. It was a terrible, horrible punishment, a terrible way to execute someone. You couldn't be crucified if you were a Roman citizen because crucifixion was so horrible. We get the word excruciate, that literally means out of the cross. Why was Jesus crucified? Was he crucified because he was telling the people that they needed to throw off the shackles of Rome and rebel? No. He never told anybody to do that. Did he tell, was he crucified because he told the people that they weren't to pay taxes to Caesar? No. He said, render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's and render to God's the things that are God's. Was he trying to set up his own kingdom on earth and overthrow Rome? No, none of those things. What was his crime? The Bible tells us why Jesus was crucified. He was crucified from the human standpoint for declaring to be the son of God, for declaring himself to be who he was, the son of God. When Pilate had him scourged and the soldiers took that to the nth degree and the passion of the Christ really depicts that well. Beat Jesus almost to death with all the stripes

that he took. And when he brings him out in the purple robe and says, Eki homo, behold the man. He thought that this is going to satisfy the bloodlust of this crowd, but it didn't. It says in John chapter 19, verses six and seven. So when the chief priest and the officer saw him, they cried out saying, crucify, crucify. Pilate said to them, take him yourselves and crucify him for I find no guilt in him. The Jews answered and said, we have a law and by that law, he ought to die because he made himself out to be the son of God. That is why Jesus was crucified. Now, if you are not the son of God and you claim to be the son of God, according to the book of Leviticus in the Old Testament, that is blasphemy. And what is blasphemy worthy of? Stoning, death. And so for anyone to claim to be God and in the minds of a Jew, if you claim to be the son of God, John chapter four makes this very clear. Jesus called himself the son of God, making himself equal with God, that is blasphemy. It's blasphemy if you do it, it's blasphemy if I do it. It's not blasphemy if he does it, why? Because that's who he is. He is the son of God.

It says in Romans chapter one, verse four, he was declared the son of God with power through the resurrection of the dead. They crucified him for being who he was, the son of God and God the son. That was man's standpoint. Now Pilate, the Bible makes it clear. He knew it was for envy that they had delivered him up. But their reasoning from the Old Testament is he blasphemes. But Jesus, not only was he crucified for declaring to be the son of God, he was crucified, this is from the father's perspective, to provide forgiveness and salvation for you and for me and for all humanity. The man on the middle cross had to be there so that he could make a way where there seemed to be no way. It says in verse 35, and the people stood by looking on and even the rulers were sneering at him, saying, he saved others, let him save himself if this is the Christ of God, the anointed of God, the Messiah of God, his chosen one. Soldiers also mocked him, coming up to him, offering him sour wine and saying, if you are the king of the Jews, save yourself. Now there was also an inscription above him. This is the king of the Jews. They were telling him, come down from the cross.

They were blaspheming. Passersby, it says in the book of Matthew, passersby were saying, ha, look at you. You were the one that was gonna destroy the temple and in three days build it again. Well, come down from the cross. We'll believe in you the chief priests and the religious leader saying the same thing. Well, okay Let's see you come down from the cross if you do that, then we might believe in you But as I've told you before if Jesus had come down from the cross as he easily could have Well, then there would be nothing to believe in He had to Die as this song said he could have called 10,000 angels, but he died alone on Calvary He had to do that if he didn't die on the cross for your sins and my sins and the sins of the whole world Then there is no hope of heaven for any of us There's only one man that Jesus would not save and that was the man Jesus he could not save himself and you can't save yourself and I can't save myself He had to die in our place as the Bible says in 2nd Corinthians 5 21 God made Jesus who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf that we might become the righteousness of God in him For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ 2nd Corinthians chapter 8 verse 9 Well, you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ that though he was rich yet for your sake He became poor so that you through his poverty might become rich. There was no other way for salvation To be offered to you and me without the death of his son You remember when Jesus died one of the last things he ever said it is finished That means paid in full Jesus paid it all all to him. I owe sin had left a crimson crimson stain. He washed it white as snow So the middle cross is the cross of the Savior Who died for the sins? of the whole world

Then there is the cross of the sinner He was crucified with two thieves on either side Now the Bible doesn't tell us much about these guys. It doesn't give us their names But there is a an apocryphal Gospel it's called the gospel of Nicodemus Nicodemus is the one who came to Jesus by night John chapter 3 Nicodemus we believe Put his faith and trust in Jesus because we read about him again in John chapter 19 He went with Joseph of Arimathea to ask for the body of Jesus Well Nicodemus supposedly wrote a gospel It's not from Nicodemus since they didn't find it until the mid 4th century Nicodemus had been dead for probably 300 years After that was found, but it's called the gospel of Nicodemus and in the gospel of Nicodemus It gives names to these two guys one on the left one on the right we don't know who was on the left who was on the right, but just for argument's sake we'll say that the sinner the unsaved sinner the impenitent sinner was on the left and the Repentant sinner was on the right. Well the Impenitent sinner according to the gospel of Nicodemus. His name was gestas G-e-s-t-a-s gestas and the penitent sinner. His name was Dismas So it's just kind of rather than thief one and thief two will use those You know, I mean one in a hundred million. Maybe his name was gestas. Maybe his name was Dismas who knows God knows but we'll use that for sake of argument. And so let's talk about gestas Gestas is a picture of every lost person He's dying on the cross and He's dying on the cross for crimes that he committed He probably is in cahoots with this guy over here Dismas Dismas and gestas they're called criminals

malefactors evildoers Josephus uses the same term that the Bible uses and says normally what this meant was they were involved in some kind of revolutionary crime in some kind of big theft with a revolution Undertones to it. That's what Rome would they'd knock you down very fast you would be crucified for any kind of insurrection and the ringleader of gestas and Dismas was Barabbas Now the Bible doesn't tell us that but if you piece it together it makes sense Barabbas should have been the guy on the middle cross But The crowd asked for Barabbas to be released. Barabbas was an insurrectionist and a murderer and these two guys Guys, if you read between the lines, were probably accomplices to his insurrection and murder. So you have the situation. Jesus is on the cross and they're hurling abuse at him. The abuse is coming from passersby because Rome would crucify you in a place, not in a secret place, they'd put you on the street corner. They want everyone to see this is what happens to you if you come up against Rome and crucifixion is horrific as you are stretched out on a cross and your legs are nailed to that cross. The only way you can get a breath is by pushing up on your legs just to get a breath. That's why if they want to hasten death, they would break your legs so you couldn't push up anymore

and then you would die of asphyxiation. Well, they're just having a field day with the Lord, laughing at him, mocking him. It's from the passersby, it's from the religious leaders, it's from the soldiers, and it's from both of these guys, as Matthew tells us, even the thieves were hurling abuse at him, blaspheming him. And we have the words coming out of this man's mouth. Guess this. And he says in verse 39, one of the criminals who were hanged there was hurling abuse at him, saying, are you not the Christ? Save yourself and us. Well, this is a mock, this is a taunt, this is a jeer. Like, yeah, sure, you are the Christ. Okay, well, yeah, they tell me you're the Christ, ha ha ha. Well, save yourself and then save us too while you're at it. He's mocking him. But he is saying what is true for so many who are unrepentant sinners. Hey, if you can do something here, I'd love for you to change my situation. See, the sinner wants to be saved from his circumstances. Can the circumstances be any worse than dying on the cross? No, I mean, they're horrible circumstances. And we have people today, they'll pray. This guy is, in a sense, praying, he's talking to Jesus. Are you not the Christ, save yourself and us. I want to be saved from where I am

because the where I am stinks. And many, many people, they come to church and why are they coming to church? Well, maybe they're coming to church because they have a bad marriage and what do they want from God? They want God to make their marriage better. It's not necessarily a terrible thing, but if that's the driving force and that's the most important thing and anything else just pales in comparison to that, well, you're just wanting the Lord to change your circumstances. Or maybe it's not just my bad marriage, maybe it's my bad job. Maybe it's my finances that are upside down. Or maybe it's the report I got from the doctor and that drives me to church. If that drives you to church, that's a good thing. But if all you want from God is for him to change your circumstances, then you're just like this guy, Gestus. That's all he wanted. Save me from this cross, change my circumstances. That's what I want from you. And the sinner, when he goes to the Lord to want his will done, not God's will, but his will, he wants it done. If God doesn't do his will, guess what? He typically gets mad, mad at God.

Well, forget it, you never answered my prayer. You didn't do what I wanted, forget you. And he dies like that, he dies in that state. This guy is dying, mocking God, hurling abuse at God, blaspheming. That hurling abuse literally means blaspheming, blaspheming God. God, he wants things to be his way. God doesn't do the sinner's will, God does his will. You know, the devil's gospel, many, many people believe the devil's gospel. It's the prosperity gospel. What's the prosperity gospel say? Well, God wants you healthy, and God wants you wealthy, and God wants you just covered over with all these blessings. God just wants to load you down with blessings in this life. It's all about this life. It's all about what you can get out of this life. You read about the devil's gospel. You know, the Bible says that all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the boastful pride of life is not from the father, but it's from the world. And what do we see when? The devil tempted Jesus if you're the Son of God command these stones to become bread Hey you you you have a need here you've been fasting for 40 days Let these stones become bread show it show us that you are the Son of God prove it that you are the Son of God satisfy yourself the lust of the flesh to have bread They took him showed him all the kingdoms of the world in

One fell swoop, and he said all this has been given to me. I can give it to whomever I want I'll give it to you Jesus. If you'll just bow down and worship me. You don't have to go to the cross That's the the emphasis here is just do it now bypass all the suffering do it now and just worship me The lust of the eyes you see all this all that can be yours and then the third temptation was go to the temple Take him to the pinnacle of the temple and jump down Jesus do a couple of backflips Let them who in all over you because the scripture says he will give his chain Angels charge concerning you lest you dash your foot against the stone and show off All that you can do the boastful pride of life and we have people buying into the devil's gospel all the time the sinner wants to be saved from his Circumstances, but notice this the sinner does not want to be saved from himself and That's his problem He doesn't want to be saved from himself this guy. Guess this He was in charge of his life and he ran his life into the ditch so to speak and now he's being crucified For his crimes and his sins and he still wants to be in control That's the way it is for the sinner You know It floors me so much of the time when when people talk about doing a funeral and they want to play Frank Sinatra song my way You know my loved one. He that's the song for him because he did it his way. I said it had somebody asked Me to do their loved ones funeral. I said we're if we play that song We're telling the congregation that your loved one went to hell because the people that do it their way. That's where they go Oh Well, maybe not that song. Yeah, I said, yeah, let's not let's not say that Let's not let's not communicate that now He might be in hell if he did do it his way, but that is the theme song of hell. I did it my way Guess this does not he wants his circumstances change. He doesn't want his heart change he wants to be saved from where he is not from who he is and That is the heart of sin I want to be in control in Luke chapter 19 Jesus tells a parable It says after he saved the first ten verses. He is saving

Zacchaeus in Jericho and then it goes on to say this while they were listening to these things Jesus went on to tell a parable because he was near Jerusalem and they supposed that the kingdom of God was going to appear Immediately so he said a nobleman went to a distant country to receive a kingdom for himself and then returned and he called ten of his slaves and gave them ten miners each got a minor a minor was a hundred days wages and Said to them do business with this until I come but his citizens hated him and Sent a delegation after him saying we do not want this man to reign over us That is the heart of sin That is what sin is sin is wanting to be your own boss wanting to be your own God It goes back to Genesis chapter 3 you eat of this fruit even you will be like God knowing good and evil and you won't need to depend upon God and she Bid into that lie and bid into that fruit and plunge the world along with Adam into sin That's what sin is sin is wanting to be your own boss and The sinner guestus represents all the sinners on the left-hand side of the cross they want to do it their way and they won't yield to the sovereignty and the lordship of Jesus That is the cross of the sinner, but there's a third cross and Luke is the only one who mentions this third cross Matthew says that both the Thieves were hurling abuse at Jesus and they were But then there is the cross Not only of the Savior not only of the sinner, but of the saved and now we look at the cross on Jesus right side The cross of Dismas if we put any stock into what is said that in the gospel of Nicodemus, Dismas. And in the midst of all the abuse being hurled around and all the laughter and all the mockery, in the midst of that,

something clicks in this guy's mind. Something changes. No doubt he's been watching Jesus. No doubt he has heard, Jesus is big news. Everybody knows who Jesus is. He knew about Jesus. He had heard about Jesus. And in the midst of everything going on, he sees the sign, the King of the Jews. He hears Jesus saying, Father, forgive them. They do not know what they do. And he's convicted of his sin. He says in verse 40, but the other answered rebuking him. So Dismas says something to Gestus. He rebukes him and he says, do you not even fear God since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? And we indeed are suffering justly for we are receiving what we deserve for our deeds. But this man has done nothing wrong. And he was saying, Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom. And he said to him, truly, I say to you today, you shall be with me in paradise. This is right before noon, because at noon, darkness is gonna cover the whole land and nobody's talking at that point. These are the first three hours on the cross. And this was the last thing that Jesus said

before the darkness came. He saved this guy, Dismas. Dismas represents the saved. Gestus represents the lost. Everyone in this room, everyone under the sound of my voice, you're either part of this crowd, the lost sinner, or you are part of this crowd, the saved sinner. What does it mean to be saved? And how can you be saved? And how in the world was this guy saved? This guy who was a terrible, horrible guy who had sins coming out his ears and crimes to the point that he was crucified. How in the world could he be saved? Well, first of all, the saved are people who are convicted of their sin. And this guy was convicted. I am a sinner. He says to his partner in crime over here on the other side of Jesus, don't you fear God? We're getting ready to die. You don't even fear God. What we, this, you're making fun of Jesus. He's dying just like you're dying, just like I'm dying. And we're dying justly. We deserve what we get. But this man, this man has done nothing wrong. There's a conviction of sin. All of a sudden he recognizes, I'm a sinner. I'm a helpless, hopeless sinner.

Has that ever happened to you where you've understood that you are a sinner before God? You know, when we talk to young children who are expressing an interest and a desire to be saved and to be baptized, we always wanna talk to them about sin. Do you understand about sin? My pastor, Daman Shook, used to say, hey, any little boy or girl, do you love Jesus? Yes, I love Jesus. They want to love Jesus. They want to raise their hand. Do they understand that they're sinners? Because how do you, what does the Lord save us from? He saves us from death and hell and the grave and judgment. And you have to understand that you're a sinner. As one preacher said, you gotta get folks lost in order to be saved. That doesn't mean they're not lost, but they have to understand that they're lost. This guy understood he's lost. He had an Isaiah 6 moment when Isaiah saw the Lord and saw himself and said, woe is me, for I am undone. As Ross was just singing that song, undone before the Lord. Convicted of sin was this guy, Dismas. And then the saved, not only are they convicted of their sin, that's what the Holy Spirit does. He convicts the world of sin and righteousness and judgment. Then the saved are convinced of his righteousness and judgment.

So he says, hey, I deserve what I'm getting. You deserve what you're getting. But this man has done nothing wrong. He recognized his sinfulness and Jesus' holiness. And he recognized that Jesus was a king. Lord, remember me when you come into your kingdom. The Holy Spirit convicts of sin and of righteousness and of judgment. Do you understand? Do you understand that you're a sinner? Do you understand that God is holy, holy, holy? He doesn't grade on a curve. You must be perfect as your Father in heaven is perfect. You're not perfect, I'm not perfect, we're not perfect. The very best of us who ever lived. Nicodemus is an example of the best that man can produce. John chapter three, and Jesus said to this man, unless you're born again, you cannot enter the kingdom of God. You can't even see the kingdom of God because you're a sinner. Do you understand that? And judgment is coming because the king is going to judge. The king controls who comes into his kingdom. He convicts the world of sin and righteousness and judgment and judgment is going to rightly fall on those who are sinners before a holy God. So what's our hope? Our only hope is in him. And so this guy comes to the realization,

I'm going to die and go to hell, and rightly so. But wasn't he just praying, Father forgive them for they know not what they do. Maybe he can forgive me. Jesus, would you remember me when you come into your kingdom? That was his prayer. That was his request. Jesus never said anything to guest us, but he responds to dismiss because this is a prayer of repentance. This is a prayer of faith. Lord, remember me. Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom. And Jesus said, truly, I say to you today, you shall be with me in paradise. This guy, well, no, not that guy. How could, no way could that guy ever get saved. This guy on the cross, just hours before his death, this guy was promised from the lips of Jesus, the King of the Jews, that he would be with him in paradise, that he was saved. He had the promise. And immediately it came when he asked Jesus to save him, when he asked Jesus to remember him. He was accepted like that. Hey, some of you really struggle with doubting your salvation. Do you think Dismas on the cross doubted his salvation? When Jesus said to him, truly, which is the word, amen.

You know, Jesus in the gospel of John, he's saying, amen, amen, amen, amen. He's giving the truly, truly statements. Well, he gave this guy a truly statement, amen. Take this to the bank, Dismas. Truly, I say to you today, you shall be with me in paradise because today you're gonna die and you're not going to Hades. I'm not gonna abandon you in that compartment of Hades that is a fire. You're gonna be with me in paradise in the walled garden. That's what that word means. Was he believing what Jesus told him? Or was he saying, yeah, but man, I'm so bad. Look at all the bad things I did. There's no way. I mean, I just put my faith in Jesus and he told me I don't need to be afraid. I'm doubting, maybe it's not enough. What else can I do? What can you do? You're on a cross, you can't do anything. You can't get baptized, you can't do any good works. What do you have to commend yourself to God? Zero, nothing. All you have is the word of God. First John chapter two, verse 25. And this is the promise that he himself has made to us eternal life. Eternal life is not something you get when you die.

It's something you get when you believe. You know what's interesting? This is the only deathbed conversion in the Bible. Do I believe in deathbed conversions? Yes, but they're very, very rare. Most people die the way they live. Most people die like this guy, like Gestus. They die still holding on, I want to be my own boss. Better to rule in hell than to serve in heaven. That's the attitude of the unbeliever so much of the time. But this guy, this must, Lord remember me when you come into your kingdom. Now, I ran across this from the apologist, mathematician John Lennox, and I never thought about it in these. terms before, it was so wonderful to hear it and then to see how he depicted it. But he's talking about acceptance. You know, you can boil down every religion in the world as do or done. You know, the Philippian jailer said to Paul and Silas, Sirs, what must I do to be saved? What do you have to do? Do I have to join a church? Do I have to get baptized? Do I have to give some money? Do I have to sing in a choir? Do I have to do this? Do I have to do that? Do I have to do the other? Do I have to get circumcised? What do I do? What must I do to be saved? And so every religion in the world is spelled do. You have to do something. Christianity is not spelled do, it's spelled done. You don't do anything. Jesus paid it all, all to him I owe. Sin had left a crimson stain, he washed it white as snow. What can this guy do? Nothing except repent and believe. And so here is a graphic illustration of this. You have religious belief. You're going on in life and all of a sudden, whether you got raised in a church or whatever, you come to this place where it's like, okay, somebody presents a religion to me. Maybe it is the Islamic religion, or maybe it's the Hindu religion, or maybe it's a cult, maybe it's Mormonism or Jehovah's Witnesses, or maybe it's just as I grew up Catholic, it's the Catholic religion. And you have to believe these things and you go through their

ceremonies and their rituals and you get baptized and you go through catechism and you go to these, you know, these steps and you go through life and you're practicing these things, maybe, maybe, you know, seriously or maybe not so seriously. But you come to the end of life and this is how most people think. That's the judgment of life. It's another door. I went through this first door, I believed in this religion, now I come to another door. What's the other door? That's the door of judgment. That's where you have your life weighed out on the scales. And we put your good works on this side and your bad works on that side, and that is judgment to determine acceptance. What is on the other side of death? Well, it's heaven or hell, separation from God. And how are you, how is that evaluated? It's evaluated at death, at that final door, at that final judgment. And they think that, well, that's what it is. That's why when you talk to somebody who believes like that and you ask them, do you know for certain that if you were to die, you'd go to heaven? They can't tell you yes, because they said, as one man told me, he goes, you don't know that, nobody knows that. You can't know that, you can't know that until you get to that second door. And that second door, that's when the Lord determines whether you're going to heaven or hell. And what determines that? How much good you did versus how much bad you did. Well, if that's the case, where is Dismas going? He's got nothing to put on the good side. All he's got is on the scale is bad stuff. Well, he would definitely go to hell. But Jesus said, truly I say to you, today you shall be with me in paradise. So that is, that is the depiction of everyone who has religion that says do. Here is true Christianity. True Christianity. You come to the door and you understand that you're a sinner and you're lost and you need Jesus and you put your faith and trust in Jesus. And the moment you put your faith and trust in Jesus, the moment you give your life to him, he gives his life to you and you are saved and you are accepted in the beloved. And there is no other door. The only other door is death and what's on the other side of death. Absent from the body, present with the Lord, heaven with Jesus Christ. That's what we have to offer people. That's what we celebrate. Jesus died on the cross for me. He shed his blood for me. He offers salvation to anyone who will repent and believe. Listen, at the end of it all, it comes down to this. The question of life is simply this, which thee for you? Are you guessed this? Are you wanting the Lord to do for you but you're not willing to yield yourself and surrender your life to him? Or are you dismissed? You understand that you're

a sinner and you're lost and you can't save yourself and you cry out, wretched man that I am, who will set me free? Who will deliver me? Woe is me for I am undone, for I am a man of unclean lips and I dwell among a people of unclean lips. For my eyes have seen the king, the Lord of hosts and you cry out, Jesus, remember me, Jesus. Saved me. As Quinn was saying, can you remember back? When did that happen for you? Dismas will never forget when that happened for him. And he wasn't accepted on the basis of works. He was accepted on the basis of his faith. For by grace you've been saved through faith and not of yourselves. It is a gift of God, not as a result of works, lest anyone should boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. We're going to celebrate the Lord's Supper. We're going to celebrate the cross and remember what he did for us when he died on the cross. If you didn't get the elements when you came in, if you could raise your hand right now, we'll get those to you. But remember this, the Lord's Supper is so sacred and so special. It is only for those who have followed in the footsteps of Dismas. It's not for the guestices of the world, because you don't have a personal relationship with Jesus. You never surrendered your life. And if you're on this side of the cross, don't take the Lord's Supper. It's only for people on this side of the cross. But even people on this side of the cross, the Bible makes it clear, if you take the Lord's Supper, that is so special, that speaks of the death of God's own dear son. If you take it in an unworthy manner, there's sin in your heart and in your life, and you know it's there, and you're not willing to confess it. Yes, you have a relationship with Jesus, but you're walking in the darkness. The Bible says, get your heart right before you take the Lord's Supper. Because in Corinth, some of them were weak and sick, and some of them were dead, because they were defiling the Lord's table. You can't do that. We have to examine ourselves. We have to say with David, search me, O God, and know my heart. Try me and know my anxious thoughts, and see if there be any hurtful, evil way in me, and lead me in the way everlast. Now we come to the most important question of all. Have you turned from sin and selfishness and given your heart and life to Jesus? Listen, if not, today is the day for you. Just pray this simple prayer from your heart. Lord Jesus, I need you. I know that I'm a sinner, and I can't save myself, but I believe, Jesus,

that you are God in the flesh. I believe you died on the cross for my sins and rose again from the dead. And right now, I ask you to forgive me and save me, come into my life, change me, make me the person you want me to be. I surrender my life to you, and I promise to follow you all the days I have left. Now, if you pray that kind of prayer and mean it, the Lord will come in, and your life will never be the same. Listen, I would love to hear from you, so please contact me and share with me what's going on so we can pray for you. And if you are ever in the Texarkana area, we would love for you to visit us live and in person at FBC Texarkana. Listen, you really are important to God, and you're important to us, and we're here for you.