Towards the cross | Isaiah 53, Luke 23:32-43

Who has believed our message and to whom has

the arm of the Lord been revealed? He grew up

before him like a tender shoot and like a root

out of dry ground. He had no beauty or majesty

to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance

that we should desire him. He was despised and

rejected by mankind, a man of suffering and familiar

with pain. Like one from whom people hide their

faces, he was despised and we held him in low

esteem. Surely He took up our pain and bore our

suffering, yet we considered Him punished by

God, stricken by Him and afflicted. But He was

pierced for our transgressions. He was crushed

for our iniquities. The punishment that brought

us peace was on Him, and by His wounds we are

healed. We all like sheep have gone astray. Each

of us has turned to our own way, and the Lord

has laid on Him the iniquity of us all. He was

oppressed and afflicted. Yet he did not open

his mouth. He was led like a lamb to the slaughter,

and as a sheep before its shearers is silent.

So he did not open his mouth. By oppression and

judgment he was taken away. Yet who of this generation

protested? He was cut off from the land of the

living. For the transgressions of my people he

was punished. He was assigned a grave with the

wicked, and with the rich in his death. Though

he had done no violence, nor was any deceit in

his mouth. Yet it was the Lord's will to crush

him and cause him to suffer. And though the Lord

makes his life an offering for sin, he will see

his offspring and prolong his days, and the will

of the Lord will prosper in his hand. After he

has suffered, he will see the light of life and

be satisfied. By his knowledge, my righteous

servant will justify many, and he will bear their

iniquities. Right, Luke chapter 23 verse 32 to

Luke 23:32–43

43. When they came to the place called the skull

they crucified him there among with the crew

Along with the criminals one on his right and

the other on his left Jesus said Father forgive

them for they do not know what they are doing

and they divided up his clothes by casting lots

The people stood watching and the rule is even

sneered at him They said he saved others let

him save himself if he is God's Messiah the chosen

one The soldiers also came up and mocked him

They offered him wine and vinegar and said, If

you are the king of the Jews, save yourself.

There was written notice above him which read,

This is the king of the Jews. One of the criminals

who hung there hurled insults at him. Aren't

you the Messiah? Save yourself and us. But the

other criminals 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. Then he said, Jesus remember me when you

come into your kingdom. Jesus answered him, truly

I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise.

Morning everyone. Can everyone hear me? If you

can't hear me during the service just tell me

to speak into the mic. Okay? Well Michael is

going to be preaching on Sunday. He's going to

be preaching I believe on 1 Corinthians 15. Is

that right Michael? And he says, Paul says, I'm

here to remind you of the gospel because it's

of first importance. Is that right? Yep. And

that's what I'm here to do today. So you're going

to get a double whammy of the gospel. Okay? And

we need to preach the gospel to ourselves every

day, don't we? Let's be fair. So before we start,

let's pray. Let's ask God for help. And let's

ask him to open our hearts and be receptive to

his word. Heavenly Father, we thank you for your

word. That's a lamp to our feet. We thank you

most of all for your glorious and indescribable

gift of your son, Jesus Christ. Help us today

to be lifted up and to be edified and built up.

by the wonderful promises that we find everything

in your son, Jesus Christ. Amen. Well, we gathered

here today to remember Jesus' remarkable sacrifice

for each and every one of us. He went through

a mock of a trial. He was spat on. He was beaten,

flogged. made to wear a crown of thorns and then

executed as a criminal on a cross and rejected

by his own people. This was no ordinary death.

This was a remarkable and selfless act of pure

love for his people. And we should never take

this for granted. And if we're really honest,

each one of us here today contributed to his

death. Why? Because we're all sinful and so Jesus

had to endure such a painful death so our sins

could be forgiven There if there is a famous

saying there are two things certainly life death

and taxes And we all know this is absolutely

true Death is horrible. It's ugly and it separates

us from our loved ones and it's final Many people

do many things to preserve their life, like going

on good health diets, going to the gym every

day, taking all these recommended supplements

that cost you a fortune. However, in the end,

death is inevitable. I want you to come on a

journey with me. I want you to imagine it's just

coming up to your 21st birthday and you come

down with a deadly virus. And there's a new vaccine

that's just come out that will cure this deadly

disease. The crunch of the matter is the vaccine

is very expensive. It's $100 ,000. And you have

a choice. You can use the $100 ,000 that's just

matured in your trust account, or you can spend

it up, the $100 ,000, living it up for a few

days. Well, I take an educated guess and say

that you would most likely use the $100 ,000

to pay for the vaccine that will save your life.

So by taking the vaccine, you have managed to

prolong your life but not keep it. Ultimately,

you will still die one day because death is certain.

I don't know if any of you have watched any of

the Final Destiny movies. The main theme of Final

Destination is that death comes for everyone,

anytime and anywhere, no matter what. No matter

how many chances you get, death will get you

in the end. You can cheat death, but you cannot

escape it. And this is true for everyone, is

it not? We see less graveyard in our towns because

it's a reminder of death. No one likes talking

about death, do they? It's not a great way of

making friends. And why do we die? Well, most

of you will know that it's to do with sin. Sin

and death go together. We're not meant to die.

God gave Adam and Eve the tree of life. And so

if they had not taken the forbidden fruit, they

would still be enjoying life in the Garden of

Eden. However, as you all know, they ignored

God's command, took the forbidden fruit, and

sin entered into the world, and death followed.

Now sorry if this all seems a bit doom and gloom.

But it's really important that we accept that

we're all going to die. And it's also important

that we know that Jesus has given us a lifeline.

He has given us eternal life through the Son

Jesus Christ. But we have to ask the next question,

and that is, how are we to obtain this free gift

of eternal life? Well, the answer to this question

is in our text, what was read out earlier by

Joel. about the short conversation between Jesus

and the thief on the cross. And we'll look at

that a bit later, but first let's have a look

at the context so we can get a better understanding

of the passage that we're looking at. Now interesting,

the conversation between Jesus and the thief

on the cross is only recorded in Luke. In all

of the three gospels, it just says that Jesus

was crucified between two robbers and in John

two others. Now crucifixion was a painful death

and could take days to die. Normally you would

die from asphyxiation or suffocation. That is

why they broke both the criminal legs next to

Jesus. Why? Because the Sabbath was the next

day and they did not want criminals hanging on

a cross during the Sabbath, which was a religious

day. so they broke both the criminal legs, and

consequently they would have both died by asphyxiation.

But interestingly, Jesus did not have his legs

broken, because he had already died, probably

because of the severe flogging he'd just received.

And this fulfilled scripture from Psalm 3420.

He protects all his bones, not one of them will

be broken. Now crucifixion was done as a deterrent

to keep order. and serve as a warning for people

if they did not conform to the Roman government.

And here we have Jesus and two thieves, either

side being executed in Golgotha, which was probably

on a hill in Jerusalem. Many people who were

crucified in Jesus' day would be hung on a cross

at the side of the road. And you could have hundreds

of people being crucified at the same time for

all to see. And this, again, was to serve as

a deterrent. and to keep order in the Roman Empire.

But why did Jesus have to die? I think Mark,

me and Mark were having a conversation earlier

about this. Why did Jesus have to die? And who

was responsible for Jesus' death? Was it Herod?

Yes. Was it Pontius Pilate? Yes. Was it the Jewish

leaders of the day, the Sanedrin? Yes. Was it

the Jewish people? Crying out, crucifying, crucifying,

yes. But let me get more personal. Were we responsible

for Jesus' death? Amen to that, sister. Absolutely.

Jesus' death was all to do with the atonement

of sin. It tells us in Romans 3 that God put

Jesus forward as a propitiation by his blood

to be received by faith. Propitiation is a fancy

word which means to take God's anger. upon himself

to appease God's anger. God hates sin and the

only way sin could be punished and appeased was

the perfect sacrifice Jesus Christ who took on

himself God's wrath and anger. So who was responsible

for Jesus's death? All of the above. However,

there is one other person I have not mentioned

who was ultimately responsible for Jesus's death.

Can anyone tell me who that was? Who said God?

Well done, Karen. You get a prize after the message.

Absolutely, God. If God is sovereign, ultimately

God is responsible. Now how do I know this? Because

Joel read this out earlier. Have a look what

it says in Isaiah. stricken by him and afflicted.

And he also says, yes, we consider him punished

by God. The Lord has laid on him the iniquity

of us all. So God is ultimately responsible for

Jesus' death. Why is this truth important? Because

it shows us how much God loves us. God so loved

us so much, he was willing to do what it takes

to sacrifice his one only son and Jesus was no

bystander in all of this Jesus said to his father

didn't he take this cup but your will be done

sweating tears of blood Jesus could have called

down a legion of angels to get him up down from

the cross but he chose not to because if he did

we would still be in our sins Jesus said I can

give my life and I can take it up So what we

have here is God and Jesus' love being demonstrated

in harmony by what they both did. What a remarkable

gospel. So we should never see our worth in our

family or in our house or possessions, but in

God alone for what he has done for us. See, love

is a verb, isn't it? It's a doing word and we

see this most clearly in what Jesus has done

for us. Interestingly, the Jewish leaders and

his own people were mocking Jesus saying, if

you're the son of God, come down from the cross,

save yourself. However, what they didn't realize

is if he had have come down from the cross, which

would have been much easier option for Jesus,

we'd still be in our sins awaiting eternal punishment.

So if we cannot escape death and death will come

to us all, Is there anything we can do about

this awful predicament? And the answer is yes.

There is Jesus Christ, he gives us a lifeline

and a way out. He has conquered death once and

for all and he has risen and he's at the right

hand of God, interceding for us and he's offering

each one of us eternal life. But how are we to

obtain this free gift? Well, there's generally

two ways that people seek God's forgiveness and

the free gift of eternal life. There's the right

way and there's the wrong way. So let's have

a look at the wrong way first and then we'll

look at the right way. You see we need to get

this right because there's a lot at stake here.

There's no mistake that the thief on the cross

who threw himself on the mercy of Jesus had done

nothing or very little good. in his life. Let's

be fair, his time was running out and he didn't

really have time to try and put things right.

So this rules out a gospel of good works, doesn't

it? If we think we can earn our way into heaven

by good works, we're just deceiving ourselves.

There are legalistic churches out there today

that preach a gospel of works which gives you

a set of rules to follow. such as you must attend

two Bible studies a week, you must attend church

twice a week, you must recite and learn the Catechism

and so on. Now the problem with this is that

we all fall short. We can't keep all these rules

and all this will do is lead you to despair and

want to give up. We do not follow a moral gospel

as though Jesus came as an example of how we

should live. Yes, he did this, but much more.

He took our place on the cross. There's other

churches who preach that if you do not speak

in tongues, you cannot be saved. I had a charismatic

person come to my door and ask me if I could

speak in tongues. I said to him, I can speak

in Yorkshire. But seriously, I said no. I didn't

even know what he was talking about. And he said,

well, you can't be saved unless you speak in

tongues. Again, works based. There's other churches

who teach the health and prosperity gospel. If

you're a true believer, you'll be healthy and

wealthy. But this just sets people up to fall,

doesn't it? Because people get sick and when

they do, they either fall away from their faith

or believe it's a result of sin that leads to

despair. You see, if we try and earn God's favour

by anything we try and do for God, we are subtracting

from the work of Christ. If we could somehow

please God by good works, what was the point

of Jesus coming in the first place? And by trying

to please God by good works, we're robbing Jesus

from his glory. We should never get the root

and the fruit of the gospel mixed up. The root

of the gospel is Jesus died for our sins because

he was perfect in every way and rose from the

dead on the third day. And he's now at the father's

side. The fruit of the gospel is how we live

knowing this truth. If we have a deep understanding

of how much God loves us and what he has done

for us by sacrificing his one and only son, then

we'll have a deeper appreciation. of what God

has done for us which should lead us to want

to please God by doing good not because we have

to but because we want to and this should be

true of every Christian. But if we think we can

please God in any other way we have got it completely

wrong and back to front. Now Michael preached

the whole letter of Galatians which warned us

about trying to please God by good works. So

why am I bringing this up again? Because we're

all prone to fall back in our old ways, are we

not? And think this is this way because our old

self is always at work. We need to be reminded

constantly that there is no place in the Kingdom

of God for righteous people. What did it say

earlier? What did Joel say? That Jesus died for

the ungodly, not for the righteous, for the ungodly.

Have a look with me at a good illustration of

this. It's in Luke. It's the parable of the Pharisee

and the tax collector. To some who were confident

of their own righteousness and looked down on

everyone else, Jesus told his parable. Two men

went to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and

the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood

by himself and prayed, God, I thank God that

I'm not like other people, robbers, evildoers,

adulterers, or even like the tax collector. I

fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.

But the tax collector stood at a distance. He

would not even look up to heaven, but beat his

breast and said, God, Have mercy on me, a sinner."

I tell you, this man rather than the other went

home justified before God. For all those who

exalt themselves will be humbled and those who

humble themselves will be exalted. So the question

is, which one are you? Are you the tax collector

or the Pharisee? So what is the right response

to God? Well, we have a fabulous illustration

of how we should approach God in the conversation

between the thief on the cross and Jesus. If

you notice, the first thing the thief says to

the other thief is, do you not fear God? He tells

us in Proverbs that the beginning of wisdom is

the fear of God. In other words, we should have

a deep reverence for who God is. Doesn't mean

we should be terrified of God. but we should

have a deep respect and a deep reverence for

God. The second thing the thief says is, since

you are under the same sentence, we are punished

justly for what we are getting, so we are getting

what our deeds deserve. But this man has done

nothing wrong. You see, the thief on the cross

now is confessing he's a sinner in need of God's

grace. And at the same time, He's acknowledging

Jesus's perfect life because he says this man

has done nothing wrong. And this should be the

same for all of us. If we cannot see our own

sin and our need for a savior, we are completely

lost. Can you say that you honestly deserve God's

wrath and judgment? and condemnation because

you fall completely short of God's standard.

If you can't, I do not believe you've understood

the Gospel and you're on slippery ground. There

is no place for pride in God's Kingdom. As Christians

we have to be honest with God. I don't know if

you remember Nick's sermon from Trinity a few

weeks ago. telling us that we need to be honest

about our shortfalls with God. See, God doesn't

want perfection. If he did, Jesus died for nothing.

No, he wants our honesty. So we need to have

a true understanding of ourselves. And if we're

honest, we've all fallen short of God's standard.

And we need to admit that to God and ask him

for forgiveness. I mean, that's why we're a confessional

church, isn't it? That's why we confess our sins

every week. And in our personal world, we confess

our sins every day, don't we? We are no different

from the thief on the cross. You know, when I

was in prison, I was in the middle of a service

and a guy came up to me and said, Tony, we love

you. You're just like one of us. I didn't know

whether to take that as a compliment or an insult.

And then when I thought about it, I thought,

you know what? He's right. I am just like one

of you. I'm a guilty sinner in need of God's

grace. And we should all be able to say the same.

Can you identify yourself with the thief on the

cross? Or do you somehow think you're better

than him? You see, it's easy for us to think,

well, thank God I'm not like that thief on the

cross. However, when we compare ourselves to

Jesus, well, we're stuffed, aren't we? Let's

be fair. We're just as bad. as the thief on the

cross and deserve God's full wrath. Do you truly

believe you're a sinner? And if the answer is

yes, that's great. If your answer is no, well,

you need to repent. We then need to see Jesus

Christ as our perfect sacrifice because as the

thief said, he has done nothing wrong. He lived

a sinless life. perfect in every way. He kept

the holy law perfectly. He was the perfect sacrifice

for our sins. Do you believe Jesus is perfect

in every way? Do you believe that he's God in

the flesh? If Jesus isn't perfect, he could not

be the perfect sacrifice, could he? And thirdly,

the thief on the cross says to Jesus, Jesus,

remember me when you come into your kingdom.

This man throws himself on Jesus as mercy, and

we need to do the same. He's nothing to lose,

has he? Let's be fair, he's going to die. And

yet he knows that Jesus can save him. He's done

nothing good in his life, I would imagine. I

would imagine he's never went to Bible study.

If you asked him what justification by faith

was, he'd probably look at you a bit funny. He

had very little knowledge of Jesus. But you know

what? He knew enough to put his complete trust

in Jesus. I mean you could look at this man and

think he's either the most unluckiest man that

ever lived by being crucified or he was the luckiest

man that ever lived because he was crucified

right next to Jesus. But he had enough faith

to put it in Jesus. Now it doesn't matter whether

you have little faith or you have a lot of faith.

What matters? is where you put your faith in.

The thief on the cross, interestingly, was mocking

Jesus prior to this, before he came to his senses,

just like the other thief, and this is recorded

in the other gospels. But he has had a light

bulb moment and realizes he needs Jesus, and

he repents from his former life and puts his

faith in Jesus. Now, here repentance mentioned

many times in sermons, but what does it mean?

repentance, true repentance mean? We're not to

get repentance and remorse mixed up. Remorse

is when you're sorry for what you've done. So

for example, I could be sorry for beating Linda

up during an argument, feel deeply sorry for

what I've done, but then the following week I

do the same thing. This is not repentance, this

is remorse. Another example is Judas, who betrayed

Jesus for a few silver coins, and he was deeply

sorry for what he had done. However, he then

goes on and hangs himself. That's not repentance,

that's remorse. Repentance is a change of art.

For example, Peter denied Jesus three times.

But then later on Jesus approached Peter and

asked him three times. Do you love me Peter?

Peter replied three times Yes, and then Jesus

said well go and feed my sheep and that's exactly

what Peter did You see repentance is a change

of heart. It's going in a different direction.

I'm going in this one direction away from God

That is true repentance, which is a change of

heart a change of living, a change of lifestyle?

Have you truly pended? Are you following Jesus?

Are you trusting in the work and the person of

Jesus Christ? Or are you trying to please God

by doing good works? Or are you doing good works

because of your deep love and appreciation of

what God has done for you? They seem similar,

but they are complete opposites. Now, some of

you might be thinking, well, I've been a Christian

all my life. Why should someone else like that

thief on the cross come to Jesus on his deathbed

and be saved? It's not fair. Well, the truth

of it is why should God save any of us? If he

decides to save some and not others, is he not

just? Just like the workers in the vineyard where

some had worked all day and the others only worked

an hour. they both received the same wages. Is

that farewell according to God? Yes, because

they both agreed. We should be glad if someone

has come to know Jesus on their deathbed. This

should be a great encouragement to all of us.

I'm sure some of you out there have loved ones

who've died and you're not sure whether they

were saved. I know I have. Well this passage

gives us confidence because it shows us that

God can call you the last minute before you die

because it's all to do with grace and not works.

Now for those who are here today thinking, I'm

never going to be good enough Tony, so why accept

Jesus as my Lord and Saviour? My answer is yes,

you'll never be good enough. That's the point.

Why should you accept Jesus your Lord and Saviour?

Because it's Him doing all the work. It's grace.

You'll never be good enough, but Jesus was good

enough. And if you put your trust in Jesus, who

has lived the life you can't and died the death

you can't, you'll be saved. Jesus will give you

his perfect life and credit it to you and meet

you where you're at. Believe me, there's no one

beyond God's forgiveness because it's all about

God's free gift. For instance, at Christmas you

receive gifts from family and friends, don't

you? Did you buy those gifts? Did you get your

hand in your pocket and buy them? No. Did you

work for those gifts? No. They were given to

you. They were free. All you had to do is accept

them. Well, that's the same as the gospel. You

can't earn it. You can't work for it. You can't

pay for it. It's free. And it's very humbling,

isn't it? Now, this should be very humbling to

each and every one of us because he gets rid

of any pride. we may have and humbles us because

there is nothing we can do to save ourselves.

If our salvation rests on God's free gift and

we can't do anything to contribute towards it,

it should make us all the more appreciative of

what God has done for us. And the last thing

I want to look at is what does Jesus mean when

he says to the thief on the cross, today you'll

be with me in paradise. Well, I believe Jesus

is alluding to heaven when he says paradise.

The Garden of Eden was like a paradise, which

was a typology of heaven. And here Jesus is talking

about the real heaven. So what can we learn from

this? Firstly, Jesus, when he died, he didn't

go to hell for three days, as some may believe.

No, his punishment was crucifixion on the cross

and his father turning his face away he could

have not gone to hell because he tells a thief

on the cross today you will be with me in paradise

not tomorrow but today why is this important

for us to know well as we talked about earlier

none of us can escape death it will come to us

all that is physical death however If, like the

thief on the cross, you've repented and solely

put your trust in Jesus, you will never, ever

be separated from God and Jesus. The second you

take your last breath, you will be with Jesus

in paradise. How good is that? Remember what

Paul says in Romans 8? Neither death nor life

will ever separate us from the love of God that

is in Christ Jesus. Nothing in this life and

nothing in the life to come will separate us

from the love of God that is in Jesus Christ.

No, brothers and sisters, we will not be put

in a hole and become a nothingness as some believe

when we die. We will immediately be with Jesus

in paradise. Wow, that should be a great motivation,

shouldn't it, for all of us to follow Jesus and

to do good. Not because God can love us more.

How can he? How can he love us more when he allowed

his son to die such a terrible death? Is that

not enough? Not only that, but he has promised

you and me eternal life. Your name, if you're

a Christian, is written in the book of life.

So please don't wait until you're on your dying

deathbed like the thief on the cross. The offer

of salvation is here and now. Your life will

never be the same, but take that offer. So a

quick recap, what have we learnt today? Well

firstly, none of us can escape death, we all

will die. Secondly is, Jesus is our lifeline

and can reverse this awful predicament by giving

us eternal life. Thirdly, for us to be right

with God, we have to accept that we are sinful

in every way and deserve God's wrath. Accept

Jesus as our perfect sacrifice and trust that

Jesus fully died for our sins and through ourselves

at his mercy. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we,

if we're truthful, each one of us, our thoughts

condemn us. We do things wrong every day. We

cannot keep your perfect standards. But Heavenly

Father, we know someone who did. Your perfect

Son, Jesus Christ. Help us always to keep our

eyes upon him, the perfector of our faith, the

one who came to do one thing, to die for us,

to take our place and to give us his righteousness

in all our sins and everything that we've done,

all our lives, was thrown on him on the cross.

Thank you so much for this indescribable gift,

Heavenly Father. You're a wonderful God, a very

generous God. I just pray today that we won't

keep this wonderful, wonderful promise, the gospel,

to ourselves, that we will be always willing

to give an answer to what we believe, to our

brothers, sisters, neighbors, anyone we come

in contact with. And we ask all of this in the

mighty name of Jesus. Amen.