The Persons of the Cross

Welcome to this week's message from the Church at Chelsea Westover.

Our core values are vibrant worship, intimate fellowship, fulfilling service, and clear biblical truth.

We pray that this message changes your life.

Let's tune in to today's message and see what God has in store for you.

Now we're excited here at the Church at Chelsea Westover because again, you hear me keep referring to our core values.

And the foundational core value that we have is clear biblical truth.

And we have a little saying about the word of God.

In fact, we talk about it constantly, we preach it constantly.

And my uh one of my preaching pastors wave at me.

Where's Sylvester?

Right there.

And he'll be preaching in a few weeks.

Uh we get excited about the Word of God.

Because the Word of God never returns void, but it accomplishes where God sends it.

Isaiah 55, 11.

Amen, church.

So we had a little contest going on with our uh to really share with you how serious we are about the word.

In fact, we got a little saying here.

We say, what, church?

We what?

We love it.

We learn it.

Say it again.

We love it.

We learn it.

We live it.

And that's why we say, Thy word is a lamp unto our feet and a light unto our path.

Psalms 119, verse 105.

Psalms 119:105

And we also believe in John 17, 17.

Sanctify them through thy word.

Thy word is truth.

And by the way, everyone that's got a bow tie on today, it's just a double portion that's going to be bestowed upon you today.

Everybody, I like the bow tie look.

I've never had worn a bow tie until a couple about a month ago when we did the bow tie, but I like the bow tie.

The bunny rabbit got found me a yellow bow tie.

Yes, yes, yes.

And by the way, look at this beautiful arrangement.

Rosemary, Deedra.

We have some unbelievable people that can decorate around here.

Let's give them a hand.

But the word of God, clear biblical truth, is what we really build this church upon.

It's God's word.

We believe it.

We believe that every word's inspired of God.

There's no error.

We believe that.

We believe that Genesis 1.1 is inspired as Revelation 22.

Amen?

We believe that.

We really do.

So with that said, we had a little contest going on with our church members that whoever brought the most first-time visitors, it's got to be a church member or regular attender here at the church, brought the most visitors for the first time.

We have two unbelievable, beautiful EVS study Bibles that we're giving away today.

Now, I know there's a couple because I kept as I was shaking hands.

And by the way, thank you for letting me just love on you as you come in every Sunday, but especially today, everybody I shook hands with, I said he is risen.

And I was waiting to hear somebody, yeah, y'all didn't catch it at the beginning.

Let me try that again.

He is risen.

He is risen indeed.

That's it.

So anybody that says to you today, he is risen, you respond by, he is risen indeed.

That's what we always did with my students when I was teaching them.

But anyway, I met a lot of people for Adrian, and I met a lot of people for Al.

So I'm going to start with those two.

Adrian, how many visitors do you have with you today?

First time.

First time, let's give him a hand seven visitors.

All right.

First timers, seven.

Amen.

Where's Al?

Where's Brother Al?

Is he back there?

Eleven.

Give Al.

Woo! Tell Al to come in here.

Any other members that has more than seven or eleven first-time visitors?

Anyone?

I didn't think so.

All right.

Come on up here, Adrian.

Come on up here, Al.

Amen.

Come on.

Ha ha.

We want to get a picture of this, Sarah.

I want to get them both up here.

Come on up here, Al.

Hey, let's get over here.

Let's get over here.

I want to get this purple.

We want to get this purple in here.

Get right here, Al.

Now hold that in your hand.

Right there.

Adrian, you hold this in your hand, and I'm going to put my arms around you like this.

Let's give them another hand, church.

All right.

Congratulations.

Amen.

I was out in Vincent in the park Sunday, and we had our ice cream truck.

What?

Ten?

Brittany, you had 10?

All right.

Well, guess what?

I will buy you a Bible this week.

Amen.

Anybody hell?

Amen.

You will have an EVS by Wednesday night.

That means you've got to be in a small group to get it, though.

Let's give them a hand, folks.

That's awesome.

That's 28 first-time visitors.

That's unbelievable.

Praise the Lord.

That's what it's all about.

It really is.

Now, if you do not have an outline of the message that I'm about to preach, would you raise your hand so we could make sure we got several up here, Bob, in the back?

Several.

We may not have enough.

I don't know how many Susan ran off.

But amen.

Isn't this exciting?

Isn't this exciting?

And I'm sure they'll give us a count before the end of the service.

Today I want to bring a message titled We've been doing a series of messages this month called a place called Calvary.

A place called Calvary.

The first Sunday we looked at the pain of the cross.

Last week we looked at.

Who remembers?

The what?

The pain of the cross?

Then who?

We looked at the person of the cross.

And today we're going to be looking at the people on the cross.

And then next week we'll end the series with the plot of the cross.

So that's where we're going.

And then we're going to start the new series.

It'll be in May and June.

It's going to be the joy of the Lord is my strength.

The joy of the Lord is my strength.

We're going to look at verse by verse through the book of Philippians.

The joy book of the Bible.

It's going to be an exciting series, I promise you.

But I want you to turn with me this morning in your Bibles to Luke 23.

Luke 23.

Everyone have an outline?

Luke 23, a place called Calvary.

The people that day that were on the cross.

The words that were said that day on the cross, I want to introduce it with a very vivid scene.

How many of you have seen the horrible, I call it, but the most biblical cross movie?

You know the title of it?

The Passion.

How many seen The Passion?

That's most of us.

I want you to look, just kind of set this message up at the introduction of one of the worst, I think, pictures of the agony as Jesus begins to pronounce and I'm talking about echo out his seven last words on the cross, which we will be looking at today.

To telestai it is finished.

When he bowed his head.

Today we're going to be looking at a place called Calvary.

The three people that were crucified that day on the cross.

In fact, we want to look at, first of all, beginning, let's look at verse 32, starting with 32.

There were two other criminals, or your version may say, malefactors, led with him to be put to death.

And when they had come to the place called Calvary, there they crucified him, and the criminals, plural, one on the right hand and the other on the left.

And then Jesus said, Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do.

And they divided his garments and cast lots.

And the people stood looking on him.

But even the rulers with them sneered, made fun, saying, He saved others, let him save himself if he is the Christ, the chosen of God.

The soldiers also mocked him, coming and offering him sour wine, and saying, If you are the king of the Jews, save yourself.

And an inscription also was written over him in letters of Greek, Latin, and Hebrew, the three known languages of the day.

There was a reason for that.

He wanted the whole world to hear the truth.

Every language.

And here's what was written.

This is the king of the Jews.

And we'll be talking about that.

Then one of the criminals who were hanged blasphemed him, saying, If you're the Christ, save yourself and save us.

But the other answer and rebuked him, saying, Do you not even fear God seeing you are under the same condemnation?

And we indeed justly for we received the due reward of our deeds, but this man has done nothing wrong.

Then he said to Jesus, Lord, remember me when you come into your kingdom.

And Jesus said unto him, Surely I say unto you today, you will be with me in paradise.

Now it was about the sixth hour, and there was darkness, 12 o'clock, from twelve to three.

He was crucified.

He stayed on the cross at least we know six hours, from nine in the morning to three in the afternoon.

And now it's it's noon.

And the Bible says, now it was about the sixth hour, and there was a darkness over all the earth until the ninth hour, to three o'clock.

Then the sun was dark, and then the veil of the temple was torn in two.

And when Jesus had cried out with a loud voice, he said, Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.

Having said this, he breathed his last breath.

Wow.

A place called Calvary.

An unbelievable place.

An amazing place.

It was an amazing place because of an amazing Savior.

It was an amazing place because of an amazing salvation.

It was an amazing place because of an amazing Savior.

And I want to share with you what this amazing place consists of.

First of all, in your outline, it was a place for criminals.

It was a place for criminals.

In verse 32, there were also two other criminals led with him.

Now the word there for criminals is cacorgos.

And it literally means evildoer, robbers, thieves, villains, murderers.

I meant the worst of the worst.

Because crucifixion was so horrible, so barbaric, that the Romans would not allow Roman citizens to be crucified.

Can you imagine how Jesus looked a while ago?

Can you imagine the pain and agony he was going through as he was suffering there?

So it was a place for the villains, not a savior, not a lamb without blemish, without spot, but villains.

But also we see that this place for criminals, the worst of the worst.

But notice the first thing about this place was the arrangement of the crosses.

The arrangement of the crosses.

Someone would say, why was Jesus in the middle?

The Bible says in verse 33, there they crucified him and the criminals, one on the right hand and the other on the left.

Why was Jesus put in the middle?

Why was he put in the middle?

That's a good question.

Here's why.

The second thing.

Not only was the arrangement of the crosses very important, but here's why it was important.

B, so that prophecy would be fulfilled.

In fact, hundreds of years.

In fact, in Isaiah, are you ready for this?

Seven hundred years prior to this incident, prior to the place called Calvary, hey, the place of the skull, Galgotha.

Listen to me.

700 years prior to that, we have the prophecy written about this incident that day.

And here's what it said in Isaiah 50, verse 6.

Isaiah 50:6

In fact, before we do that, hey, uh, Jeremy, show them Luke 22, uh, verse 37.

Listen to what Jesus said.

Jesus is saying this to the ladies.

In Luke 22, we see verse 37, what he says to these ladies.

Luke 22, verse 37.

Luke 22:37

And Jesus says, For I say to you that this which is written must still be accomplished in me.

And he was numbered with the transgressors, for the things concerning me have an end.

In other words, he was saying, the prophecy that was written 700 years ago before this incident had to be fulfilled.

Now notice what he says in Isaiah 50, verse 6.

Isaiah 50:6

I gave my back to the smiters, oh, to those who struck me, and my cheeks to those who plucked out the beard.

I did not hide my face from shame and spitting.

And we see that episode, and we saw that last week as Simon, we looked at Simon the Serenian, as he was bearing the cross.

We were talking about cross-bearing, and we saw how in Matthew 27 that he was beaten, hey, with not just the rod, but by the fist and the palms of the soldiers and how they used the cattle nine tails.

You saw those, those, really those pieces of flesh and skin, and how it had ripped his skin, laid it wide open all the way to the bare bone.

Oh.

But that was predicted 700 years ago.

And then look at verse 9 in Isaiah 53, verse 9 and verse 12.

Isaiah 53:9

And he says, And they made his grave with the wicked, but with the rich at his death, because he had done no violence, nor was any deceit in his mouth.

He said, He's gonna die with the wicked, but he's gonna be put in the tomb of the rich.

Nicodemus' tomb that they placed in.

Nicodemus was a very wealthy man.

So he predicted not only where he was gonna die, how he was gonna die, but where he was going to be buried.

Seven hundred years prior to this incident.

Seven hundred years.

Verse 12.

I love verse 12.

And he said, Therefore I will divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong, because he poured out his soul unto death.

And he was numbered with the transgressors, and he bore the sin of many and made intercession for the transgressors.

In other words, there it is.

There's the picture of him hanging between the two thieves, and he's making intercession.

How many times we saw him say, Father, forgive them, while they were nailing him to the cross.

And then in verse 34, while he's hanging there, he's saying, Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.

It was predicted 700 years prior to this incident.

A thousand years prior to this incident.

In Psalms 22, we get a complete description of what is taking place on Calvary that day.

A complete description.

In fact, it starts out, my God, my God, why has thou forsaken me?

Father, forgive them.

For they none know what to do.

And then he goes on and he talks about the spikes being driven through his hands and his feet and his ankles.

A complete description in Matthew, in Psalms 22, which was written a thousand years before this incident.

Ladies and gentlemen, if that does not prove the accuracy of the word of God, nothing does.

You know why I believe the word of God to be the absolute truth of God?

It's because it has no error.

What, what in what any religion, what religion do you know of that has predicted a thousand years or 700 years prior to something happened?

And it happened exactly like he said it would.

That's the word of the living God.

That's the truth.

Sanctify them through thy word.

Thy word is truth.

All scripture is given by the inspiration of God, and it's profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction and righteousness, that the man of God may be perfect.

2 Timothy 3, 16 and 17.

The word of God teaches you what's right, what's not right, how to get right, how to stay right.

Amen.

And it's all written by God.

For prophecy came not in old time by the will of men, but by holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Spirit of God.

Amen.

So what accuracy, what proof of clear biblical truth.

Unbelievable.

Notice the third thing.

The worst criminal was in the middle.

Why was Jesus in the middle?

One, prophecy had to be fulfilled.

That he would be in the middle making intercession.

Had to be, had to be that way.

But there's another reason.

The worst criminals were put in the middle.

Now, when you think about that scene on Calvary, it's you think of him being elevated very high.

He was no higher than about three feet, probably no higher than right here.

This prayer bench.

His feet were right here.

And the custom was to put the worst of the three criminals in the middle.

There was a reason for that.

And the reason for that was so that the people that were there watching him, laughing at him, making mockery of him, spitting on him, they would be spitting on him, they would be throwing rocks at him, they would be hitting him, they would come up and spit on him, they would pick up sticks or have sticks and just beat him.

They were allowed to do that to the worst of the worst criminal.

That's why the middle was so important for the Romans.

They wanted the worst criminal to be in the middle.

Not just the robbers, but the rapists and the murderers.

The worst of the worst in the middle.

So here was a Lamb of God without any sin, without any shame, had done nothing wrong in the middle, labeled as the worst of criminals.

God help us.

Or should we say, God, thank you for what you did for me.

You and I should have been the one in the middle, not Christ.

And the thief realized that, one of them.

So it was the worst criminal was in the middle.

Now notice the fourth thing.

Not only was he in the middle, because prophecy predicted it he was the worst of the worst, but both thieves had equal access to the Savior.

Look at verse 33.

One on the right hand and one on the other.

Woo! The Bible says in 2 Peter 3:9, the Lord is not slack concerning his promises, as some men count slackness, but his long-suffering.

2 Peter 3:9

Listen, not willing that what?

Any should perish, but that all should come what?

To repentance.

To repentance.

Listen, Jesus wants everyone to be saved.

He didn't die for a certain group, he died for everyone.

For God so loves, quote it with me, for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

So when you and I die and we Die lost and we die and we go to hell.

By the way, this preacher believes in a hell.

I preach that there's a hell.

And if you die and you go to hell, like one of these thieves did, one of these robbers did, you will not be able to say you didn't have an opportunity to be saved.

Every person has equal access to God the Father's Son Jesus.

Everyone.

And we see that right here.

Hey, for whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.

Romans 10 13.

Hey, for the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost.

Luke 19, 10.

Do you get the picture, church?

Are you with me, church?

Both these had equal access to the Savior.

You do not and cannot make an excuse for not being saved.

Hello.

Come on.

You cannot and must not and it will not stand up, hey, for making an excuse for not being saved.

Every person will hear the truth.

Every person.

Or God would not be a just God.

Or God would not be a loving God.

Amen.

But He is.

What unbelievable truth.

Now, but notice what else?

I love this next point.

Jesus is our mediator.

1 Timothy 2, 5.

For there's one God and one mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus.

What do you mean, preacher?

Listen.

You know why he was hanging in the middle?

Hey, saying to both of those thieves, talking to both of them.

They both heard the same conversation.

One, one sitting there laughing at him, making fun of him.

Hey, he's saying, Oh, if you really are the Christ, why don't you come down off this cross and save, hey, save yourself and save us?

The other one was not, hey, crying out to be saved physically.

He was crying out to be saved eternally.

Big difference.

Big difference.

Big difference.

And we see right here, there's one media, one mediator.

Listen to me.

I was witnessing to a guy, actually, he came to church here.

And we were witnessing outside in after service at eaten with us.

And he said, Well, you know, and he called what he was.

He was a different religion, really.

And he said, but but it's really okay, Pastor.

I enjoyed the service.

And we're really all going to the same place.

I said, time out.

The only way we're going to the same place if we know the same Savior.

And I said, The only place I know that I said, first of all, there's only two places.

One place called heaven, one place called hell.

And we either go into heaven or we're going to hell.

And the only way we're going to heaven is, Jesus says, I'm the way, the truth, and the life.

No man cometh unto the Father except by me.

John 14, 6.

Acts 4.12.

Neither is there salvation in any other, for there's none other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved.

Jesus is the only way.

You get, hey, you get the crown through the cross.

Amen.

Well, that's good.

Let me say that again.

You get the crown through the cross.

Say that with me.

You get the crown through the cross.

No other way.

No other way.

One mediator.

And it's Jesus.

Amen.

Hebrews 7.25.

I love this song.

I'm going to get Susan.

I'm going to appoint me a trio.

And the first song they're going to learn is right here.

Hebrews 7.25.

Wherefore he is able also to save them unto the uttermost.

Woo! Ha ha ha! I'm saved to the uttermost.

I know that I am.

Finish it.

What does it say?

Been washed by the blood of the precious lamb.

Come on.

Come on, help me.

Come on, baby.

Saved to the uttermost.

I know that I am.

I've been washed by the blood of the precious Lamb.

Woo! Through the Father, through the Son, through the Holy Ghost, I'm saved to the uttermost.

Yeah.

Woo! Amen.

I'm saved.

To the uttermost.

That's that's my favorite song.

That's gonna be at my funeral.

I'm saved to the uttermost.

And I know that I am.

Amen.

Woo! Somebody, I have a that's good.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Number two, not only was it a place for criminals, but it's a place of compassion.

Oh, look at verse 34.

Jesus said, Father, forgive them.

For they do not know what they do.

See, if they had known that he was the Messiah, really, they would have never crucified him.

Oh, they would have never crucified him.

How do you know that?

Listen, listen to what he says in 1 Corinthians 2.8.

Which none of the rulers of this age knew.

None of the leaders, not Pontius Pilate, not even, not even the religious leaders, not one knew.

For had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.

They didn't know.

Satan had him, hey, had them blinded.

Satan does that.

Amen.

He blinds those that are lost.

He'll blind you, you watching here on the internet, here live, in the overflow.

He'll blind you.

He will, hey, keep you from understanding and seeing the truth.

Because he knows when you see the truth, the truth shall set you free.

And if you be set free, you're free indeed.

Amen.

Isn't that good?

So we see it's a place of compassion.

Jesus had compassion on the Jews, verse 35.

And the people stood looking on, but even the rulers with them laughed at him.

He saved others.

Let him save himself if he is the Christ, the chosen of God.

See, a lot of people back then thought, oh, okay, he's the Messiah.

So Jesus was going to come and he was going to overthrow the Roman Empire and set up his own earthly kingdom.

They were looking for an earthly ruler instead of an eternal ruler.

So they were making fun.

They were disappointed.

They didn't understand.

So they thought he was a, really, they thought basically he was an imposter.

That's what they thought.

Jesus had compassion on the women that followed him, verse 27.

Jesus had compassion on Simon, the one that bore the cross I preached on last week.

Jesus had compassion on the Roman soldiers, verse 34.

Jesus had compassion on the thieves.

But God commended his love toward us in that while we were yet sinners.

Romans 5.8, Christ died for us.

And then Jesus had compassion on us.

Do you know why Jesus has compassion on us?

I want you to see this.

Jeremy, go to Matthew chapter 9, verse 36 through 38.

Matthew 9:36–38

When he had seen the multitudes, he was moved with compassion on them because they had fainted.

In other words, they were tired, they were worn out, and the crowds had been following him.

And he had compassion.

He saw, and the rulers thought, you know, these were just ordinary people.

Aren't you glad God died for just ordinary people?

I happen to be one.

Ordinary people, the down and outers, the in and outers, the up and outers.

He died for them all.

And notice what he says.

Oh, they fainted and we're scattered abroad as a sheep having no shepherd.

Oh, oh.

Folks, we are sheep needing a shepherd.

We need the chief shepherd, Jesus, but we also need a great church where there's a great pastor, shepherd there that loves you and feeds you and takes care of you and comforts you and there with you.

That's why a church is so important.

Verse 37.

Then said he unto the disciples, he's teaching the disciples a lesson.

He says, the harvest truly is plenteous.

But now watch.

The labors are few, not many.

You know why?

It's hard work.

You know why we have few labors?

Because they don't want to get involved with messy people.

Hello! I'm telling it like it is.

They don't want to get messed up with messy people.

Their problem is don't they don't realize they're stinky people.

All our righteousness is as filthy rags.

Isaiah 64, 6.

There's none righteous.

No, not one.

There's none that won't understand understand it.

There's none that seeketh after God.

Amen.

People, hey, we don't want to get involved.

We're in a society today that I can remember used to, you could go to bed and leave your doors unlocked because you knew everybody in the neighborhood, they loved each other, they took care of each other.

Now you can't even you have a flat tire.

People will ride, hey, ride by and still stop, they ride by and blow the horn.

I thought to myself, I wonder what they're blowing the horn at.

They think they don't realize I've got a flat tire.

All right, all right, hey, God bless you.

You got a flat tire.

Hope you get it changed.

Hello.

God had compassion on us.

And we must have compassion.

That's why we believe in another one.

Intimate fellowship, caring for our brothers and sisters in Christ.

This church helps people every week.

Can I get an amen, church?

Every week.

We want to get involved, and we do with messy people.

Why?

Because we're messy ourselves.

We need help.

We need each other.

Can I get an amen?

Praise the Lord.

Third thing: it was a place of mockery.

Look at verse 35 through 37.

And the people stood looking on, but even the rulers with them sneered, saying, He saved others.

Let him save himself if he is the Christ, the chosen of God.

The soldiers also mocked him, coming and offering sour wine, and saying, If you are the king of the Jews, save yourself.

The one criminal.

Go on and look at look at verse 38.

And a subscription.

We're going to look at that in a minute.

Also was written over him in letters of Greek and Latin and Hebrew.

This is the king of the Jews.

Now watch.

Here's one of the thieves.

Remember, we're talking about three people, the three people that were hung on the cross that day.

We had the Savior and two thieves, and here's one of them.

And one of the thieves, robbers, malefactors, which were hanged, railed on him, saying, If thou be Christ, say thyself then us.

See, Jesus could not save himself because he came for the very purpose of giving himself a ransom for all.

If he had saved himself that day, which he could have, he could have called for 10,000 angels and they would have come.

But he didn't.

If he had saved himself that day, we would have died in what?

In our sins.

Aren't you glad he died for us?

Aren't you glad he didn't come down off that cross?

The Bible says in Isaiah 53, 5, he was wounded for our transgressions.

He was rude for our iniquities, and the chastisement of our peace was upon him, and with his strike for him.

Wow, wow, wow.

Wow.

But look at number four.

It was a place of testimony.

Verse 38.

An inscription also was written over him in letters of Greek, Latin, and Hebrew.

This is the king of the Jews.

Now, go to John 19.

Jeremy, I want him to read this with me.

John 19.

Verses 19 through 22.

Look at what it says.

And Pilate wrote a title and put it on the cross, and the writing was Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews.

Verse 20.

Now this gets really interesting.

Then said the chief priest of the Jews to Pilate, write not the King of the Jews, but that he said, I am the King of the Jews.

They said, No, no, no, no, no, no.

Don't you write that.

You write that he claimed to be the king of the Jews.

Pilate was upset.

He was mad at the hierarchy, religious folk.

He was so mad because they disrespected him.

They didn't like him for one reason.

But the second reason, they had manipulated him and coerced him into making the decision to have to crucify Jesus.

And he knew that Jesus was innocent.

Remember?

His wife said, Don't you have anything to do with this crucifixion?

And as Darren said, he washed his hands.

So he was upset.

Pilate answered, What I have written, I have written.

He said, In your face, it's my time to put it in your face now.

No, you say he's not.

I say he is.

It stands written.

The king of the Jews.

I gotta think about that.

God gave me I'm gonna give you what God gave me this last few days.

Three things about this.

This is inscription.

First of all, let me tell you what I thought.

Woo, you ready?

It's the first gospel track.

Amen.

It was the first Gary gospel track written.

And it was written by Pilate.

And it said, He is the king of the Jews.

Now notice verse 38.

First of all, I want to see the sign.

The sign.

Now the king, 1 Timothy 1.17 says, now the king eternal, immortal, invisible, to God who alone is wise, be honor and glory forever and ever.

Amen.

The only, hey, the only king eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God, be honored, glory forever and ever.

There's only one King of Kings and Lord of Lords.

And he had written on his vesture and on his side the name King of Kings and Lord of Lords.

Revelations 19, 16.

I got thinking about that.

What does that make him?

Whew.

That makes him my king.

Ha ha! He's my king.

My king.

You know what that means?

He's a seven-way king.

That means he's the king of the Jews.

That makes him a racial king.

He's the king of Israel.

That makes him a national king.

Oh, he's the king of righteousness.

He's the king of all ages.

He's a king of glory.

He's the king of heaven.

He's the king of kings and lord of lords.

He's my king.

Oh, he's enduringly strong.

He's entirely sincere.

He's eternally steadfast.

That's my king.

He's immortally graceful.

He's imperially powerful.

He's impartially merciful.

That's my king.

He's God's son.

He's the sinner's savior.

He's a sinner piece of civilization.

Woo! That's my king.

Oh, he gets better.

He's unparalleled.

He's unique.

He's unprecedented.

There's nothing to compare with him.

He's the loftiest idea of literature.

He's the highest personality of philosophy.

He's the supreme problem in higher criticism.

Oh, he's a true doctrine of theology.

Oh, he's the only one qualified to be the all-sufficient savior.

That's my king.

That's my king.

Oh, it gets better.

Oh, he supplies strength to the weak.

He's available for the tempted and tried.

And God gave me this yesterday.

You ready?

You want to hear more about my king?

Watch this.

Oh, hey, he never counsels, he never counsels my appointment in his appointment book.

Woo! Oh, hey, he will never forget me, forsake me, lead me, mislead me, overlook me.

That's my king.

Oh, oh, his goal for me is abundant life.

His goal for me is when I'm afraid, he has courage.

When I'm blind, he leads.

When I'm broken, he mends.

When I fail, he forgives.

When I fall, he lifts me up.

When I'm hungry, he feeds.

When I'm hurt, he heals.

When I'm lost, he provides.

And when I'm lost, he is the way.

He is my king.

My king.

Oh.

Oh, he's the key to knowledge.

He's the wellspring of wisdom.

Oh, he's the doorway to deliverance.

He's the pathway of peace.

He's the roadway to righteousness.

He's the highway to holiness.

He's the gateway to glory.

He's my king.

Oh, my king.

Oh, listen, listen, it gets better.

He's indescribable.

He's incomprehensible.

Oh, he's invincible.

He's irresistible.

Oh, you can't get him out of your mind.

Hey, you can't outlive him and you can't live without him.

He is my king.

Pilate could find no fault in him.

Herod couldn't kill him.

Death couldn't handle him.

And the grave couldn't hold him.

He's my king.

My king.

My king.

Oh, brother, ladies and gentlemen.

Oh, he had no predecessor.

He'll have no successor.

And bless God, you can't impeach him, and he ain't gonna resign.

Forever and ever and ever and ever, my king.

Give my king a hand.

Glory, my king.

That's good.

My king.

And that's what that meant when he said, the king of the Jews.

My king.

Isn't that good?

Isn't that good?

And I'm tired.

Woo! The second thing, and not only do I see the sign, I see the center.

Verse 40.

Oh, yeah, look at verse 40.

The center.

Oh, that's good.

But the other answer and rebuked him.

Saying, Do you not even fear God, seeing you are under the same condemnation?

And then notice what he said, and we indeed justly, for we received the due reward of our deeds, but this man has done nothing wrong.

Wow.

We see the sinner.

Verse 40.

The other criminal answered, spoke up, rebuked his buddy that was unbelievably lashing out at Jesus.

What a tremendous insight.

Because here we see, by the way, the third thing.

We see the sinner rebuking.

We see the sinner rebuking his friend.

The one criminal had no thought of God, no guilt, no repentance, no concern for forgiveness, but the other was under conviction.

By the way, let me say this.

At the beginning in the morning from 9 to 12, somewhere in there, both of them were cursing and making fun of God.

I mean, of God's son Jesus.

But I think after that one sinner saw the forgiveness and the love that God so portrayed through his son Jesus that day, he came under conviction.

And he said, wait a minute, this is wrong.

This man's done nothing wrong.

But we have.

We should be crucified.

But not him.

Not him.

Look at this.

Is that not beautiful?

And during this time, the third thing I see is the Savior.

The Savior on the cross and listen to what he did.

Seven words.

He said, Father, forgive them, verse 34.

I'm going to show you the most powerful, beautiful picture of God being as much man as man could ever be, and Jesus being as much God as God ever could be.

In fact, he says in John 10 30, My Father and I are one.

First of all, look at it.

We see his divinity.

He says in verse 34, Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.

Only God.

Could forgive sin.

Can I get an amen?

Then notice the second word, verse 43.

Today you will be with me in paradise.

We see the, hey, we see him, hey, as God again.

Only God could save someone and take him to heaven.

Then the third words, verse, chapter 19 in the book of John, verses 26 through 27, he looks down at his mother.

And the only disciple that was hanging around was the beloved John.

And he looks at his mother and looks at John.

And notice what he says when Jesus therefore saw his mother and the disciple, who was, hey, he loved standing by him.

He said to his mother, Woman, behold your son.

Behold your son.

Then he said to the disciple, Behold your mother.

Here we see his humanity.

Here we see that he was, he had a love and a compassion for his mother.

And here we see that he was making sure that his mother was going to be taken care of after he was gone.

He said, John, now she's your mother.

Take care of her for me.

That's his humanity.

And then the fourth words, why?

Verse, Matthew 27, verse 48, why hast thou forsaken me?

Matthew 27:48

Here we see his humanity again.

In the deepest, darkest hour, he's crying out, Why?

Why have you forsaken me?

The humanity of Jesus.

And then John 19, 28, the fifth word, he cried out, I thirst.

We see his humanity.

He was thirsty like I am, and like you are, and like we get, he was thirsty.

But ladies and gentlemen, when we get to John 19, 30, and he said, as we saw it on the screen earlier, it just finished to tell us that we see his divinity.

Listen to me.

The Romans think they control the hey crucifixion.

Hey, the Hebrews think they control the crucifixion.

Listen, Jesus willfully, timely, he controlled everything about the cross, even the moment of his death.

He controlled it.

He controlled it.

And then we see his divinity.

Verse 46, Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.

Notice the fifth thing.

It was a place of confession.

Mm-mm-mm.

It was a place of confession.

Two confessed.

One made fun, the other received.

I want you to look at the one that confessed rightly.

I want you to look at the one that got saved that day.

Look at his confession.

People ask me all the time, at the end of the service, I always lead people in the sinner's prayer, the whole congregation, because there may be someone here that's lost.

And I've had people question me all the time.

Well, not all the time, but sometimes.

I just don't believe there's such a thing as a sinner's prayer.

How many of you have ever heard of the sinner's prayer?

Most of us.

But I've been challenged, it's not in the scripture.

Oh, how wrong you are.

The sinner's prayer is in the scriptures, and here it is, right here.

Here's the confession of a lost thief, robber, that's asking Jesus to save him.

Here it is.

Confession.

First of all, look, number one, he admitted his guilt.

Verse 41, and we indeed justly, for we receive the due reward of our deeds.

Mm-mm-mm.

Hey, I'm guilty.

Listen to me.

You can't get saved until you recognize you are a sinner.

Amen.

You say, yeah, but my mama, no, it's not your mama's fault.

But my dad, no, it's not your daddy's fault.

Yeah, but it's my boss, and it's not your boss's fault.

It's not your wife's fault.

It's not your husband's fault.

It's not your children's fault.

It's your fault.

It's my fault if I'm not saved.

I am the one.

Now I have all those good excuses, but I am the one that has willfully rejected Jesus.

I have.

This thief said, You messing.

In fact, he turned to his buddy in crime.

He said, Don't you even fear God?

Now let me tell you, if you study that context, here's what that means.

Don't you realize that you're going to face God one day?

Wow.

Wow.

Notice second thing.

He admitted he deserved his punishment.

Verse 41, for we receive the due reward of our deeds.

In other words, I deserve to go to hell.

Ladies and gentlemen, I love you.

I love you.

I love you.

I love you.

Listen to me, watching by internet, listen to me.

If you die without Jesus, you are going to hell.

Please don't do that.

I beg you not to do that.

Don't do that.

Don't do that.

You don't have to do that.

He died for you.

So that you would not have to go to that eternal abyss called hell.

Thirdly, he admitted Jesus was innocent.

Look at the same verse, end of the verse.

Man, this man has done nothing wrong.

1 Peter 3 18.

For Christ also has once suffered for us, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit.

Wow.

Notice the fourth thing.

He omitted there is life after death.

Watch this.

Verse 42.

Lord, remember me when you come into your kingdom.

Now he didn't say remember my works.

Hello.

This thief didn't have time to go to church.

This thief didn't even have time to tithe or to give.

He didn't have time to do anything except one thing, and he did it vehemently.

He had a change of heart and he had a chance to witness.

Can I tell you something?

When you really get saved, let me tell you what happens.

When you really get saved, you want to tell people.

You want to tell people about Jesus.

And we see that right here.

Look at it.

He admitted that there's life after death.

And there is.

There is.

And then notice the last thing, he admitted Jesus as the Messiah.

Verse 42.

Notice the word Lord.

Then he said to Jesus, Lord, Kurios, master, owner, supreme authority, controller.

He said, Lord, you're the master, you're the ruler.

Here's what he said: You're the Messiah.

Wow.

You're the Messiah.

Wow.

That's what it means.

So there's your sinner's prayer.

Like going Easter egg hunting.

Hey, hey, there, listen to me.

There is the sinner's prayer.

And now watch.

It gets better.

Look at number six, the last thing.

It's a place of salvation.

Whew.

The pennant thief.

I wrote this down.

Byron?

I was thinking to Byron the other day when we were talking about this when we were working on my six, six months thing.

We were talking about a place of salvation.

And we talked about his cross is the way to the crown.

God gave me that this week.

Hey, the cross is the way to the crown.

But you know what?

Here's what I wrote down under the place of salvation the Lord taught me this week.

The pennant thief was the first to enter into paradise through the blood of the Lamb.

Woo! Woo! The first.

And just as there was, he was the first, one day there's going to be the last.

And when that last one gets saved, listen, the trumpet's gonna sound and we're gonna be taken out of here.

The rapture of the church is coming.

It's coming.

And we see that.

And they overcame him, Revelation 12, 11, by the blood of the Lamb and the word of their testimony.

I've been saved by the blood of the Lamb.

Amen.

In whom we have redemption through his blood.

Even the forgiveness of sins according to the riches of his grace.

Ephesians 1.7.

Much more now, right now, being justified by his blood, we shall be saved from the wrath through Christ.

Romans 5, 9.

Through him.

Now quickly, and I'm through.

Look at the characteristics of this salvation.

Now, first of all, we saw the sinner's prayer.

Now look what happened to this sinner that prayed the sinner's prayer.

You ready?

One totally by grace, verse 43.

You will be with me in paradise.

Jesus said to him, Asurely I say to you, you will be with me in paradise.

He didn't have time to do anything except witness.

Nothing.

Ladies and gentlemen, you can be good, and I hope you are good, but you can be the best man on earth.

But if you never receive Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, and you have a relationship with Jesus Christ, hey, you can be good and you're still gonna die and go to hell.

How do you know that?

Not by works of righteousness which we've done, but according to his mercy and grace has he saved us.

Titus 3, 5.

For by grace are you saved through faith, not of yourself.

It is a gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast.

Ephesians 2, 8.9.

Now, verse 10 comes in there, for we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus unto good works.

See, here's the way it works.

You don't get better to get saved, you get saved to get better.

Amen.

You don't get better to get saved, you get saved to get better.

You can't live a righteous life apart from the power of Jesus Christ in you, through the power of the Holy Spirit.

Amen.

Notice the other thing.

It's personal.

Verse 43, surely I say to you, today, you, the personal pronoun you use twice.

It's personal.

I can't get saved for you.

If I could, I would.

It is that good.

I promise you, I would.

My granddaddy was a Pentecostal.

My grandmother was Southern Baptist.

You say, well, that makes you a crossbreed guilty.

I got Baptist theology, got a Pentecostal heart, and I got Jehovah's Witness feet.

I'm a Babdecostal witness.

That's what I am.

Amen.

The worst thing we can be is dead Christians.

So you get, you know, you ought to get excited about Jesus.

Amen?

Amen.

You ought to get excited about Jesus.

Why?

He died for you.

Listen, here's the exciting thing if you don't get anything else.

If you were the only one living, and hey, he would have still died for you.

That's how personal it is.

How do you know?

Look at the thief.

He's dying, and the last thing he does, you want to see what's next to the heart of Jesus?

Soul winning.

How do I know the last thing he did was turn and say, Today I'm going to take you with me?

He won someone to Christ.

He won someone to himself.

That's why we go soul winning all the time.

That's why we have our little life and death tracks for the wages of sin is death.

But the gift of God is eternal life and they're free.

Pick them up.

Give them out.

The only thing I ask you not to do is don't keep them in your pocket.

Give them out.

Give them out.

Notice the other thing.

It's certain and secure.

Oh boy.

Verse 43.

You will be with me in paradise.

Now the word paradise means a garden of pleasure, the paradise of God.

John 6.37, all that the Father gives me shall come to me, and he that comes to me I will in no wise cast out.

See, I really believe.

I'm one of those preachers, if you really get the real thing, you got it.

You don't, hey, you don't lose something that you didn't work for.

It was a gift.

If you have it, it's real.

You don't lose it.

Let me show you.

Matthew 10, 28 and 29.

And I give unto them eternal life, they shall never perish.

Watch.

Neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.

For all that the Father gives me shall come to me, and he that comes to me, what does it say?

I will in no wise cast out.

Romans 8, the love of God.

Nothing can separate me from the love of God.

Now the question is, do you really get it?

See, now you can you can pray a prayer and not change.

Or you can pray a prayer and change for a few months and go back to living the way you were.

I call that emotional decision.

A real decision is you change.

You have a hunger for the things of God.

Amen?

Your new creation.

And then not only is it certain and secure, it's instant.

Look at verse 43.

Today.

Today.

Behold, now's the time.

Behold, now's the day of salvation.

2 Corinthians 6.2.

Today, if you hear my voice, harden not your heart.

That's it.

Hey, it's centered in Christ.

Only Jesus.

Centered E, centered in Christ.

And last thing it's glorious.

It's glorious.

Paradise.

Psalm 16, 11, you will show me the path of life in your presence is full of joy.

At your right hand, there's pleasure everymore.

I was talking to Candy.

I believe it was her grandmother.

Her grandmother was dying.

For about two hours.

They were sitting around listening to her grandmother start greeting people, calling them by name, that had already died and gone on to be with the Lord.

Now I know some preachers would get up and say stuff, and all I can tell you is Paul and the beloved John, they saw something.

Okay.

But when the lady's sitting there saying hey to people that already died and gone on, if that doesn't get me excited, nothing does.

The little the movie out, Heaven's for real.

Is heaven real?

Little boy that supposedly went to heaven or saw a vision of whatever, something was real there.

And to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord.

2 Corinthians 5.8.

Notice that this thief went today.

Hello.

He went today.

Today you will be with me.

Not you got to wait a while.

Not I'm going to put you in some purgatory.

No, you don't pray people out of purgatory.

They get saved.

They go to heaven right then when they die.

You don't pray anybody out of anything.

You don't have that power.

Hello.

Only God has that power.

Isn't that awesome?

So let me ask you this morning.

Let me ask you.

Do you know him?

Do you know the person of Calvary?

Do you know him?

Do you know him?

You say, well, Pastor Danny, I'm gonna do like the thief.

I'm gonna wait to the last minute.

I got two problems with that.

One, you don't know when you're gonna breathe your last breath.

You don't know.

This thief had was fortunate enough to know that.

By the way, this is the only deathbed experience I see in the Bible.

Now that does say you can't have that, absolutely.

I think I've led several people to, well, several handful of people to the Lord before they died.

And they were conscious of what they were doing.

They knew, they knew they needed Jesus.

They knew if they were to die.

Had one guy said, Pastor Danny, I woke up last night.

He was sweating.

He said, I was burning in hell.

He said, I meant they called me.

He called me that morning and said, please get preach out here now.

I walked in, I walked in, I'll never forget.

He said, I need to be saved, Pastor.

I don't want to go to hell.

I don't know what he saw.

He said, Well, it's just drink.

I don't care.

I know one thing, he is ready to get saved.

Let me tell you the second reason.

This was not, hey, the last time for the thief to hear the gospel.

Thieves were not in the habit of going to church.

This was the first time he heard the gospel.

And they both heard it.

One received it, one rejected it.

Which will you be?

Will you receive it?

Or will you reject it?

Every head bow, every eye close.

Thanks again for tuning into this week's message.

We pray that your life has been changed.

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We hope you have a wonderful day and again, God bless you.