At the Cross: Simon, the Thief, and the King of the Jews

We've been in the Gospel of Luke, and I'm going to ask Sharon to read our verses

today. Luke 23, verses 26 through 47.

Luke 23:26–47

Luke 23, 26 through 47. As they led Jesus away, a man named Simon,

who happened to be from Cyrene, was walking, was going that way.

Can I try that again, please? Yes, you can. As they led Jesus away,

a man named Simon, who was from Cyrene, happened to be coming in from the countryside.

Eye. The soldiers seized him, put the cross on him, and made him carry it behind Jesus.

A large crowd trailed behind, including many grief-stricken women.

But Jesus turned to them and said, Daughters of Jerusalem, don't weep for me,

but weep for yourselves and for your children for the days you're coming when

they will say, Fortunate indeed are the women who are childless,

in the wombs that have not born a child, in the breasts that have never nursed.

People will beg the mountains fall on us and plead with the hills bury us and

if these things are done when the tree is green what will happen when it is dry,

two others both criminals were led out to be executed with him when they came

to a place called the skull they nailed him to the cross,

and the criminals were also crucified one on his right and one on his left jesus said father,

forgive them for they don't know what they are doing.

And the soldiers gambled for his clothes by throwing dice.".

The crowd watched, and the leaders scoffed. He saved others, they said.

Let him save himself if he's really God's Messiah, that chosen one.

The soldiers mocked him, too, by offering him a drink of sour wine.

They called out to him, If you're the king of the Jews, save yourself.

Azan was fastened above him with these words. This is the king of the Jews.

One of the criminals hanging beside him scoffed. So you're the Messiah,

are you? Prove it by saving yourself.

And us too while you're at it but the other criminal protested don't you fear

god even when you have been sentenced to die we deserve to die for our crimes

but this man hasn't done anything wrong.

Then he said jesus remember me when you come into your kingdom and jesus replied

i assure you today you will be with me in paradise,

by this time it was about noon and darkness fell across the whole land until three o'clock.

The light from the sun was gone, and suddenly the curtain in the sanctuary of

the temple was torn down the middle.

Then Jesus shouted, Father, I entrust my spirit into your hands.

With those words, he breathed his last. When the Reverend officer overseeing

the execution saw what had happened, he worshipped God and said,

Surely this man was innocent.

May God bless the reading of his holy word.

You know, as in verse 26, Jesus is led down the road to his crucifixion.

In fact, the NIV speculates that he was led by the soldiers,

but the Greek text contains no definite subject there.

But he's very near. I want you all to see this today. He's very near his lowest moment.

He's been through a brutal night on the Mount of Olives. He's looked his fate squarely in the eye.

He's tasted the cup of God's wrath that he will drink on the cross.

And he's been betrayed. He's been abandoned. He's been mocked.

He's been spat upon. He's been beaten.

He's been brutally beaten, by the way, tried falsely, found innocent, by the way.

And this is what's important. He was condemned to death anyway.

Anyway, John's gospel actually tells us that as Jesus was led away,

he was bearing his own cross, it says in John 19, 17, a common practice in those days.

The Romans actually required a condemned man to carry that horizontal piece

of the cross called the patibulum and through the streets of the town, by the way.

And it was a method of spreading terror and keeping the people in line as if to say, what?

Hey, this is what will happen to people who oppose Rome.

But it seems, y'all, that at some point in the journey, Jesus is not able to carry it any further.

And that's not a surprise, is it? Given the ordeal that he's just been through for us, by the way.

But since there's no point in actually crucifying someone if you kill them on the way, right?

The guards actually grab a man named Simon from Cyrene in North Africa and made

him carry the cross piece for Jesus.

Simon was on his way, it tells us, from the country on this fateful day in verse 26.

Presumably, maybe he minded his own business, obviously, but when he was suddenly

pressed into service right there on the spot.

Hey, we may be tempted to pity Simon that he had to carry Jesus' cross,

but, you know, it may be no fault of his own, we think, but God's providence was there.

His providence was on display. Simon was blessed, church, to have a close-up

insider's view of this most amazing event.

It seems that, in fact, that he became a follower of Christ.

For the way that Luke refers to him seems to indicate that he was a man who

was known to his readers.

His sons certainly were known in the early church. It tells us that in Mark chapter 15, verse 21.

Mark 15:21

But as Jesus, get this picture today, Eastwood, as Jesus labored down the path

to the cross, a great crowd followed after him, remember?

Presumably there were some of the same people who had just been clamoring off

for his death before Pilate a few minutes previously.

And now they were heading out to observe the gruesome spectacle that was about to take place.

But Luke mentions that there was also a group of women, right?

You see it in the text, who were following along, what were they doing?

Mourning and lamenting for him. And it's worth highlighting,

you know, that the very positive role that women play in Luke's narrative.

Women occupied an honored place in the gospel narratives and in the early church, by the way.

And while the Bible teaches that each gender, obviously male and female,

has distinct roles to play in the home and in the church, by the way,

in Ephesians 5, it talks about that.

It never portrays women as second-class citizens in any way.

In fact, they're exalted here in the Gospels.

They're always essential parts of the body of Christ.

And here, when the crowds have turned on Jesus and the great disciple Peter

has denied Jesus, guess what?

It's a group of women who possess the love and the courage to stay with him to the very end.

Come on, go ladies, right? They stay with him.

And this group of women walk along the road. What does Jesus tell them?

Come on, help me out. What does he say?

Don't cry for me. What does he tell them? He got it.

He tells them that. In fact, there's obviously though plenty to mourn over and

everything is happening.

And these women's tears are beautiful product of loyal compassion.

But Jesus tells them that they should be weeping for themselves because awful

days are coming for them.

You know what? The fall of Jerusalem will be so terrible that the social stigma

of barrenness will be preferable to enduring this ordeal while trying to care for a small child.

I mean, he's telling, he's warning them.

In fact, in verse 30 of this passage, Jesus quotes to the women from Hosea 10 verse 8,

Hosea 10:8

a prophecy that has been realized when the Assyrian armies overran the northern

kingdom of Israel in the years leading up to 722 BC.

In a similar way, by the way, y'all, Jerusalem will be destroyed with cruelty and violence.

And that makes sense in light of verse 31 here in this chapter,

which seems to be a proverb that means either something like this,

if the Romans do this to me, who is innocent, how much more worse will it be

when they come for you who are sinners?

Or if God allows this to happen to his beloved son, in other words,

how much worse will it be for you?

Y'all, church, those are questions that the force of whose answers is well worth

us pondering, is it not, this morning?

Is it not? I just want y'all to know something today.

We all learned that we are guilty, right? We all learned that in these past

few weeks, that we were in that crowd, that we would have said, crucify him, right?

And I want you to know, as Jesus hung on that cross, he hung between what? Two criminals.

And just in case you need to be reminded, every person sitting here today is

a criminal, every one of you.

Which way are you going to respond? You know, both criminals,

it tells us in another gospel, started out railing at Jesus.

One of them had a change of heart, and he actually said, why are you doing this?

I mean, we're guilty of our sins.

That's what we all should be saying, right? We're guilty.

Why are you railing out against Jesus? Because this man truly is innocent.

He's done absolutely nothing.

We deserve our fate. And y'all, every one of us sitting here deserve our fate.

None of us sitting here are worthy of salvation.

Y'all, we can either be like the thief, the criminal, on the one side of Jesus

who said, hey, I want you, Jesus, but I only want you for what you can do for me.

If you are the Messiah, I'll follow you as my Messiah if you do what I tell you.

Save yourself and us. Save us all if you really are him.

The other thief, what did he say?

Remember me and your kingdom, right? When you come into your kingdom.

What did Jesus say to him?

Today, and I think we missed the important words, today you will be with me in paradise.

Y'all, how many times do we look at heaven and we view it as no more,

these are all great things, no more pain, no more death, no more suffering, hallelujah.

Who has a pain in your body right now? You say, hallelujah, I want to get rid

of it. I know when I'm in heaven, I won't be, I'll have a new body.

But you know what makes heaven heaven?

Is what this thief realized. Jesus will be there.

If that's not your desire, you're going to heaven, man, it's to spend eternity with him.

Like I said earlier, every one of us sitting here have violated God's holy law.

How many have ever told a lie.

Didn't raise your hand, you just did. All right. Y'all, the bottom line is we've

all broken all the 10 commandments.

We're guilty, man.

And I tell you what, I look at God's amazing grace church and I often say,

if God can forgive a sinner like me, he can forgive anybody.

If you don't feel that way, you ain't been at the foot of the cross that I have.

You hadn't seen your sin in the light of holy God.

Every one of you deserve to burn in hell for all eternity, including your pastor,

but only for the grace of God Almighty do I have salvation.

And I'm able to say, remember me, Lord. And he keeps his word, y'all.

When we repent of our sin, we put our faith and trust in Christ alone.

Now that repent word is just maybe fancy for some of you. It just means to turn away.

You're going towards your sin. That's your whole motivation.

And God gets a hold of you. He wakes you up. You turn towards Jesus.

You want to start walking his way. You turn away from the sin. You turn to him.

When we realize that, y'all, when we realize we're sinners in need of a savior,

that's when we can be saved.

We see the need, man. We see the need. And we are just like this other thief,

says Lord forgive me Lord remember me you know what I notice about that thief,

he didn't have time to do one good deed.

One. That just confirms that salvation is not by works, but by faith in Christ alone.

Now, I will tell you this, if he had lived and didn't suffer his fate,

he would have had good works to follow. That's what scripture teaches,

but they wouldn't have saved him. I'll tell you something else.

The thief didn't have time to be baptized, so not being baptized doesn't send you to hell.

We know that from the cross, but it is important.

Jesus commanded us to do it, to identify with him, just like this thief did on the cross.

Y'all, that's the call today to all of us. It would be a shame if we walked

out of here today without knowing the love, mercy, grace, and forgiveness that Jesus offers us.

But you can't experience it, Eastwood, if you don't know it.

If you've never come to the place where you realize you're a sinner in need of a savior.

Always look at the apostle Paul. You know, Paul was a ruthless murderer,

killed Christians, slaughtered them.

He got saved. He met Jesus, you know, on the road to Damascus.

He wrote much of our New Testament, by the way. He was redeemed.

Thank God. Just give us an example of what God can do with me,

right? What God can do with you.

Would that be you today? If you don't know the Lord,

will you be the you're a criminal i've already told you that i'm a criminal,

and i need to be forgiven i need to be redeemed but you know what happened on

the cross there when jesus died he died in their place he died in that guy's

place he died in your place,

remember i said as my brother jd says the gospel in four words is jesus in my place.

Lose this picture today. I'm wrapping up. Don't lose this picture.

Jesus died in your place.

He died in my place, but don't just not personalize this. He died in your place.

You deserve to be on that cross. You deserved to suffer the fate Jesus did for

all eternity, separated from God.

But you know what? Jesus was God in the flesh. He died in our place and he conquered

death, hell, and the grave.

And you know what? He didn't stay dead. He rose again. Woo, come on.

He rose from the grave, Eastwood, to seal us in the promise he made to us of salvation.

Y'all walk in that today. If you don't know the Lord, today could be your day of salvation.

Realize your need for a savior.

We've all broken God's law. Stop pretending and say, God, forgive me a sinner.

I want to receive your forgiveness. And I promise you, when you believe what

he said in his word, he died in your place.

You repent. You put your faith and trust in him alone and not in your good works. He will save you.

You can say he rose from the grave, y'all. We have a living savior and he's alive today.

So I challenge you today, if you don't know him, step out in faith today.

And as this song said earlier, say, Jesus, not before today,

maybe, but just like that thief on the cross.

Lord, today you're my king.

What amazing love that you, my king, would die for me. For me.

It might be good to stand in front of the mirror today and say,

Lord, thank you for your amazing love that you had to shed your blood of Almighty

God to cover a filthy wretch like me.

Just think about you. Don't think about nobody else.

It took just as much of Jesus' blood to cleanse your sin as it did anybody else's.

Criminal are you? Which criminal are you? Which thief are you?

Are you the one that said, Jesus, remember me? Or are you the one that kept

mocking and railing and saying, demanding of Jesus, you do what I say,

Jesus, and then I'll believe in you.

You'll be my Messiah, but you'll be my personal one, right?

In other words, he wanted to be God. He wanted to call the shots.

That's not the way it is, church. If that's your choice and you don't want Jesus

to die in your place there and take hold of that, you can do like that other criminal.

You can rail, scream, kick, and you won't be with him in paradise because you

didn't repent. You didn't humble yourself as this other criminal did beside his Savior.

You know where that thief is today?

Do you know who he's with. Is that where you want to be?

That's where I want to be. Let's pray. You stand together.

Father God, I pray this morning, Lord, as we have studied your word,

God, it may be in a simple form, Lord, even today, God, that may we see ourself,

even if we've given our lives to you, it may be fresh and anew today to say, Lord, thank you.

You took my place because we all need to say that, Lord. We need to be reminded

of it. You died in my place.

If I had been the only one, you still would have died, even though I would have

been the one that drove the nails in your hands personally. I did it regardless.

By my sin and by my rebellion against you in this life.

But Lord, we drove the nails in your hands, Lord.

We put the spear in your side. You did it all for us.

Help us to be reminded of that today in Jesus' name. As you stand together,

Ms. Sharon plays for a moment, heads bowed, eyes closed, nothing magic about it.

Want you to assess that. Let the Holy Spirit show you. Some of you,

maybe you haven't really understood what happened at the cross.

And maybe today for the first time, you realize, you know what?

Jesus died in my place because, you know what? I can't keep the law. I tell lies.

I don't always put God first. I haven't always honored my father and mother in my life.

I look with lust.

I have hateful thoughts towards others and I'm guilty of murder.

I have done things that I covet what other people have.

And we realize quickly we're guilty of all of it.

Jesus said that in his word, that every person on this planet is guilty of breaking

every single one of the Ten Commandments.

Not necessarily physically,

but in our thoughts, our desires, our choices.

We're all guilty, y'all. But the good news is at the foot of the cross, there is salvation.

Just cry out to him. Say, Lord, forgive me of my sin, Lord.

I believe you rose from the dead for me. You died in my place on the cross,

Lord. Lord, I want to turn away from all the filth and sin in my life, Lord.

I want to turn to you alone, Jesus.

Trust in you alone for my salvation. Today might be that day for you. Step out in faith.

God is saving you right now.

If you're a Christian today, let this sink in. Let it make you more appreciative

of what Jesus has done for you.

Give him praise right now. Give him praise. Thank you.