Two Thieves, Two Responses (Luke 23:32-43)

So a couple years ago, my wife and I, we got a mini fridge for

our house. We wanted to free up some space

on our, you know, actual fridge. So we set it up in the the

dining room. We have a dining room table with

some chairs and we have a little a little cabinet.

So we kind of squish that over and in the corner we put the

mini fridge and the thing was the weekend and my kids were

coming home different times. And Micah at the time he was

probably 9 and a nine year old comes, comes in and I say, hey,

Micah, do you notice anything different?

Within one second he goes cool new fridge and he opens the

fridge and you know, see it was empty, but he immediately

noticed it. And then my, at the time, my 11

year old or maybe 12, he comes in and I said, Maddie, do you

notice anything different? Hmm, no exaggeration.

He's looking around for maybe a minute or two and then he goes,

aha, is this a new picture? I said, Maddie, that picture has

been there for two years. What are you talking about?

And he just could not. He's like, I know something is

different. I just can't put my finger on

it. I said I you, you think it's

something's different because I told you something's different.

They're in the same room. How does one kid immediately

clearly see something new and the other totally miss it?

The answer to a question is not relevant to the sermon, so I

won't answer that. When In today's passage there's

about the two criminals who were hung next to Jesus.

In that passage, the author Luke is showing us how one was able

to see Jesus clearly and the other one completely misses him.

When you, when you see Jesus face to face, meaning when you

go to church, when you listen to sermons, when you read the

Bible, you're here today. You could see him clearly or you

could totally miss him. So that's what we're going to

find out today. That's the question of the day.

What keeps people from truly seeing Jesus?

What keeps people from truly seeing Jesus #1 You can't see

Jesus when you try to use him. You miss Jesus completely if you

try to use him. This passage is found in Luke

Luke 23 · chapter mention

chapter 23. It's 32 to 43 before now we'll

read 32 to 39, 32 to 39. Oh, it's not coming up on mine.

I'll just excuse me, I'll just turn around and read it.

All right. Two other criminals were also

LED away to be executed with them.

When they arrived at the place called the Skull, they crucify

them there along with the criminals, one on the right and

one on the left. Then Jesus said, Father forgive

them because they do not know what they are doing.

And they divided his clothes and cast lots.

The people stood watching and even the leaders were scoffing.

He saved others, let him save himself.

If this is God's Messiah, the chosen One.

The soldiers also mocked him. They came offering him sour wine

and said, If you are the king of the Jews, save yourself.

An inscription was above him. This is the king of the Jews.

Then one of the criminals hanging there began to yell

insults at him. Aren't you the Messiah?

Save yourself and us? One of the criminals asked

Jesus, aren't you the Christ? Save yourself and us.

And the criminal's response is similar to pretty much everyone

else. In verse 35, it says the people

yell let him save himself. The next verse in 36, the

soldiers essentially say the same thing.

If you're the king of the Jews, save yourself.

This reminds us that this response is not the unusual

response. It is the usual normal.

The common response is to look at Jesus and say save yourself.

Aren't you the King? The criminal says, aren't you

Jesus? Save yourself and us.

See what he's doing is he's setting conditions for Jesus.

This is why he misses Jesus. He's saying if you're the

Christ, you got to save me. Prove yourself by fixing my

situation. If you are the Christ, indeed, I

will believe that you are Christ if you fix my circumstance.

Over the years I've been a pastor, a lot of people, I've

seen a lot of people give Jesus a try.

Plenty of people, even our church, have come and worshipped

and given Jesus a chance, but often they go away disappointed

because they come looking for ways how Jesus might benefit

them. God, if you fix this, I'll trust

you. God, if you're real, show me by

doing this. Jesus, if you're real, Get Me

Out of this situation. It's honestly not too different

from the criminal saying, if you are Jesus, save yourself and

save me. And when God doesn't solve your

problems, you feel like something's missing.

You come to church and you're like, oh, I don't know if God

made anything better in my life. People start questioning and

then people walk away. Here's a problem.

That's not faith, that's negotiation.

That's if you do this for me, then I will follow you.

You're not asking is Jesus who he says he is.

You're asking will Jesus do what I want him to do?

Will Jesus fix my problems? This is why many of us miss him

completely. We're in the room worshiping

God, talking about Christ our Savior and Lord, and we miss him

because we are not looking for a saviour.

You're looking for someone that will benefit you.

You're not going to find the Saviour if you're not looking

for one. All right?

So the question was what keeps people from truly seeing Jesus?

And I just said, well, you can't see Jesus if you're trying to

use him. If you're not looking for a

saviour, you're not going to find him.

And #2 you can't see Jesus until you surrender to him.

You can't see Jesus until you surrender to him.

Let's read the last four verses from 40 to 43.

Now we're going to look at the second criminal.

Same cross, same suffering. It's the same Jesus, just

opposite sides. Let's read, but we're going to

read how this guy does not miss Jesus.

He sees Jesus exactly for the person he is.

Let's read it verse 40 to 43. But the other answer, rebuking

him, making the other criminal. Don't you even fear God, since

you are undergoing the same punishment.

We are punished justly because we're getting back what we

deserve for the things we did. But this man has done nothing

wrong. Then he said, Jesus, Remember Me

when you come into your Kingdom. And he said to him, truly I tell

you today you will be with me in paradise.

Same cross, same pain, same distance to Jesus, but a

completely different outlook, completely different vision, a

different perspective. He doesn't give demands, but he

surrenders. What does he ask for?

What does he ask Jesus save me, save my situation?

No verse 42 he just says Remember Me.

No condition, no demands, no Get Me Out of this, Get Me Out of

that. He doesn't ask for a better

life. He doesn't ask for better things

in our in our life. Better marriage, fix my kids.

I want more money, I want a better status, I want less

problems. He just says Remember Me, I want

you. He's just asking for Jesus.

The first criminal says I'll believe in you if you fix my

life. The second criminal says, even

if my life doesn't change, I want you.

So how do we get this perspective?

How do we have the same perspective of the second

criminal? I think verse 41 is the key.

He omits what's true about himself.

He sees himself clearly and he's able to see Jesus clearly.

Verse 41 We are punished justly. We are getting back what we

deserve for the things that we did.

I've said this many times, the gospel starts with you saying I

am a Sinner. He doesn't blame, he doesn't

justify, he doesn't compare. He doesn't say, well that guy

was worse than me. He just says I deserve

punishment. See people whether they're

religious or anti religious or irreligious, unreligious, they

often reject guilt. People who embrace religion,

they're like, I'm not guilty, I've done all this good people

who reject religion, they also think, well, I don't, I'm not

guilty. I'm a good person.

I'm not bad as these people. It doesn't matter if you're good

or bad that you find some reason to avoid your guilt.

So either way, people think that God owes them a good life.

The heart the second criminal had his heart said I deserve

nothing for my good deeds. In fact, I'm a Sinner and I

deserve punishment. I need mercy, not repayment for

my good works. And Jesus offers him to the

thief who correctly saw him. Jesus offers him exactly what he

was asking for. Verse 42 Jesus says oh you want

me? That's what you get.

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

First thief says, what can you do for me?

Second thief says, how can I get more of you and Jesus give

exactly what he desires, You will be with me.

See that Thief was just looking for a savior to be with, and he

finds exactly what he's looking for.

You see this first guy is looking for the wrong thing.

He doesn't find it. He misses Jesus completely.

Second guy is looking for a savior because he knows he's a

Sinner. I need salvation.

I need rescuing. He's looking for a savior, and

he finds a savior. You know what else makes this

moment so powerful? I believe the stories truly

brings out the power of the gospel because this man, he says

Remember Me, but he had really nothing else to offer to Jesus.

No good works, no time to change his life, no chance to make it

up. All he had was that he knew he

was a Sinner and he wanted the Savior.

And the shocking thing about the gospel is that Jesus promises

him paradise. So it shows that there's no way

we could earn any of this. You cannot earn salvation.

Nobody deserves God's love. Nobody deserves to be God's

child. Jesus knew I'll give you

paradise because salvation is something I do anyway.

Jesus dying in his place is what was needed, not the the thief

doing good works. Jesus knew that he himself will

earn salvation for us. And this is the reason we still

celebrate Good Friday after 2000 years.

After 2000 years we still celebrate and we still worship

on the day that Jesus died because the invitation is still

true today. If we go to Jesus and ask Jesus

Remember Me, He will not give you what you deserve because

what we deserve is death and penalty, but He gives you

something better Himself. Good Friday for some people, for

some of us, can be a bad Friday because you could show up here

and you can still miss him. You can miss the point or Good

Friday can truly be a Good Friday because we can come with

nothing to the cross and walk away gaining everything.

Good Friday is indeed good main point.

We don't truly see Jesus until we stop using Him and surrender

to Him. Let's take time to pray.