We Are the Thief | Ben Palmer

Heights family, how we doing? Good, good. If

we haven't met, my name's Ben. I'm the pastor

at our Park Collective Prescott Valley location.

I don't get to make it up here a lot yet. That

one person likes it. I'm assuming everyone else

is there right now that does like it and watching

us online. But interesting fun fact. First of

all, happy Palm Sunday. My last name is Palmer,

and so... Our people, when we did the genealogy,

used to sell palm leaves on the crusade. And

so we were the day palmers. And then when we

moved to America, they dropped the day and we're

just the palmers. And so that's actually all

I got for Palm Sunday. The message is on something

different, but I thought I'd at least share that.

As always, we just kind of want to slow down

for a minute and welcome everyone online. Everyone

in Paulding and Baghdad, we love you. You're

a part of the family. We are so glad you are

here. We're all one family. And as Kyle said,

we've been looking at the last words of Jesus

and it got me thinking, well, like what about

other people's last words? And so anyone that

knows me knows I like to have fun. I take God's

words super serious. But one thing I love about

Heights is like all the pastors really like to

cut up. I mean. Y 'all probably shouldn't know

everything that we cut up about, but we like

to have fun and cut loose. And so I found some

fun ones I thought would be really good to share

with you guys. So the first one I found were

et tu, Brute? Okay, now this is Latin for you

too, Brutus. And this was said by... We'll have

the name pop up, Julius Caesar. Now, the interesting

one about this is William Shakespeare coined

this for his last words, okay? U2 Brutus is what

it says. That's in Latin, was his best friend,

and it was part of the group that murdered him.

So there's a ton of debate on whether or not

Julius Caesar ever said this, but I'm of the

belief if William Shakespeare writes your last

words, you let old Bill do what he does best.

And so these are going to be Julius Caesar's

last words for us, okay? All right, we got another

one. I'm bored with it all. Who said this? Winston

Churchill. So Winston Churchill, one of the top

three public speakers in the last hundred years,

said, I'm bored with it all before he died of

a massive stroke. Okay, so maybe don't say that

phrase. All right, next we have, you are going

to burn a goose, but in 100 years you will have

a swan, which you can neither roast nor boil,

okay? John Huss said this. Anyone who knows their

church history, this might be familiar. The fascinating

thing about these last words is they were prophetic.

John Huss was burned at the stake. So right before

he caught on fire, he died a martyr for Jesus

Christ. His last name is translated to goose.

That's what husk means. So he says, you're going

to burn this goose, but in 100 years, there's

a swan you won't be able to kill. He was burned

in 1415. In 1515, Martin Luther nailed his thesis

to the door of the church, and it changed the

landscape of the European church. That's a pretty

cool one. All right, I got another one for you.

They couldn't hit an elephant at this distance.

General John Sedgwick said this right before

he was shot by a Confederate sniper. Did not

judge that one too well. Someone should have

used one of their words to say duck. All right,

I got another one for you. Dictionary. It's an

odd one, but it was said by Joseph Wright. He

edited the English dialect dictionary. Funny,

because there's a whole book of words, but he

just chose the name of the book. So those were

his last words. And I got one more for you. One

last drink, please, said by Jack Daniels. It's

true. And I'm not advocating for that. Mr. Daniels

said that. I did not. But when we think of words

in general, we will look at someone's life and

we'll look at the words they say. And if they

don't align up with their actions, they can be

hollow and meaningless. We're not gonna stop

and listen. We know that's not the case though

with Jesus. We know all of Jesus, Jesus's words

were truth and carried weight. And we can look

at his last words and they hold up to everything

he taught. They hold up to the way he treated

people, the way he interacted with people. And

so with Jesus' last words, you want to slow down.

You want to see what God has for us within those.

Jesus' last words to the thief on the cross were

full of power, his personality, and his promises.

But if I'm being honest, there are days where

his last words to the thief on the cross mess

with this theological neat little box I try to

put God in. I have a son named Jedediah. We call

Jed. He's three, almost three and a half, and

I got a two -year -old baby girl named Israel

Rose we call Izzy, but Jed's a, he's all boy.

He's mischievous. He's playful and energetic,

and he is always, always looking to push the

boundary of what's okay. And we are always resetting

that boundary. Which, you know, he's doing what

he's supposed to. He's supposed to see what he

can get away with. And we're supposed to tell

him what he can't as parents. And so one of the

things my wife Piper has been doing for some

time is when Jetty is in a consequence or a discipline,

she goes, I love you always. I love you always.

And so last week he was getting in trouble. And

during the consequence or right after, Piper

goes, I love you always. And he goes, Mama, you

love me always, even when I'm not being good?

She was like, yes, son. He goes, Jesus loves

me always, even when I'm bad? And she was like,

yes, son. And he goes, Jesus loves me even when

I'm fussy? And she goes, Jesus loves you even

when you're fussy. And I was hearing this story

from my wife, and man, I started just to think,

like, man, I'm actually a lot like my three -year

-old at times. And I'm your pastor. But there

are, if I'm honest, if I want to be honest with

myself, there are days that I look at God's love

for me like a roller coaster that goes up and

down, and it's dependent upon the track I've

laid for the day. How much have I seeked them?

How much have I read my Bible? How much have

I prayed? How much sin have I had in my life

that day? And dependent upon my actions, I can

get off track and think that that determines

how much God loves me. And it's just not farther

from the truth. My hope is that we leave today

and we see the thief on the cross is a mirror

image of our redemptive story. that we are all

the thief on the cross and have all needed the

same amount of grace and love. And so we're going

to be in Luke 23, verses 39 to 44. One of the

Luke 23:39–44

criminals who hung there hurled insults at him.

Aren't you the Messiah? Save yourself and us.

But the other criminal 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. See, I think if we're being honest

with ourselves, sometimes we look at this thief

and go, lucky fella. God was just a little bit

kinder to him than what we needed. He was a little

more forgiving than what we actually needed.

Yours is the clearest story of saving grace.

Mine is the biggest, clearest story of saving

grace. We're all the thief on the cross. When

I was a young teenager, I'd heard about this.

and he died on his deathbed and gave his life

to Jesus. And I don't remember exactly how I

heard it. It was the 90s, so it was either a

magazine or the TV. That was the only way we

could get any information back then. But I remember

at a young age thinking out loud, that's the

perfect way to go. You get to live this life

that you want. You get to do whatever you want,

self -indulge, just live. to your heart's desire.

And then at the very end, 12th hour, you can

give your life to Jesus. See, I was born and

raised in a Christian home, so I understood the

benefit of heaven, but I didn't step into a relationship,

a personal relationship with Jesus until I was

32. See, I wasn't dumb. I understood everything

my parents had taught me. Was I ignorant? Sure.

Was I foolish? Absolutely. Broken without a doubt.

But it got me thinking, how many of us right

now are saying, after today, I'm going to stop

doing what I'm doing, and I'm going to surrender

that to Jesus later. This is going to be the

last day I watch pornography. And then Monday,

I'm done. I'm going to surrender it. This is

the last day I'm going to take a pill. After

this, I'm gonna surrender it. Once this tough

season is over, I'm gonna stop drinking so much.

And I'm gonna surrender those things to Jesus.

After my kids get settled and they're on the

right path, I'm gonna stop worrying every day.

And then I'm gonna give that to Jesus. I'll give

my kids to Jesus once they're on the right track.

Once my retirement fund is trending in the right

way. I'm not going to be anxious about the future.

And I just got to get a couple things in the

places they need to be. And when those things

happen, you know, Jesus, I'm going to give my

full life to you later. I'm here to tell you

that those things have been paid for. We have

been healed and forgiven by the body and blood

of Jesus Christ. And on the other side of that

cross is an empty tomb. And death has been been

defeated. There is no bondage that holds you.

You are no longer a slave to sin, but a slave

to righteousness. You can stop those things in

this moment in the name of Jesus. If we look

at Ephesians 2 in verses 6 through 8, it says,

and God raised us up with Christ and seated us

with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus.

These are his last words to the thief on the

cross. Jesus tells the thief, truly I tell you

today you will be with me in paradise. We as

believers who have accepted Jesus Christ as our

Lord and Savior have been sealed with the Holy

Spirit and we will be seated with Christ in the

heavenly realms. This is a promise. In verse

seven, it goes in order. That in the coming ages,

he might show the incomparable riches of his

grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ

Jesus. For it is by grace you have been saved

through faith. And this is not from yourself.

It is the gift of God, not by works, so that

no one can boast. Verse eight and nine, they're

super famous. These are memory verses that are

on frames. For it is by grace you have been saved

through faith. And this is not from yourself.

It is the gift of God, not by works, so that

no one can boast. So let's think about that thief.

I'm pretty sure that thief never went to growth

track. He never went to a men's breakfast. He

never served coffee on the weekend. He never

attended church. He wasn't baptized. I know that

messes with somebody's theological box in here.

Never went to Bible studies. He couldn't explain

the doctrine of ordinances and covenants. He

couldn't list any of the Beatitudes from the

Sermon on the Mount. And yet he was gonna be

with Jesus in paradise that day because of his

incomparable riches of his grace through Jesus

Christ. God's word tells us, God demonstrated

his love to us in this way that while we were

still sinners, Christ died for us. While we were

still his enemy, we were reconciled to him through

the death of his son. What does that teach us?

God loved you and me before we ever knew him.

God loved you and me before we ever surrendered

to him. God loved you and me before we ever did

anything of obedience in his name. God cannot

love you any more or less. I heard a pastor once

say, without the preaching of the cross to ourselves

all day and every day, we will very quickly revert

back to faith plus works. as the grounds of our

salvation. See, it can never be about me. I'm

not saved because I believe. I'm not saved because

I held strong. I'm not saved because I'm a pastor.

I'm saved because of what he did and who he is.

I'm saved by what Christ achieved on the cross.

Are we preaching the cross to ourself all day

and every day? I don't. I remember a time several

years ago where one of my favorite verses in

the Bible was in Luke 6. And Jesus is doing a

teaching. He's talking about, hey, love your

enemy. Lend to them without expecting anything

back. He's like, because then you'll be sons

of the Most High. And he goes, and do this because

God is kind to the ungrateful and wicked. Be

merciful, just as your Father is merciful to

you. But that phrase, be kind to the ungrateful

and wicked, That just like hit me in this way.

And I was like, man, that's awesome. I need to

be kind to those who are ungrateful and wicked.

And somehow, subconsciously, I wasn't aware of

it at the time. I had elevated myself just one

notch above the ungrateful and wicked. So this

was my favorite verse for the wrong reason for

a few years. And I'm at a Christmas dinner in

Huntsville, Alabama with my whole family. Everyone's

there. And I go, Dad, will you pray for the Christmas

dinner? And he goes, Heavenly Father, thank you

for being kind to those of us who are ungrateful

and wicked. Amen. Quite the Christmas prayer.

Wanting a whole lot about baby Jesus in there.

But that was his prayer. And my little nephew

is like, he's like, Pop, that don't sound right.

And my dad goes, I assure you it is. And in that

moment, the Holy Spirit revealed to me that I

had stopped preaching the cross to myself. I

had lost sight of the need of a savior every

day, all day. That it was his goodness, his righteousness,

that I was ungrateful and wicked. And I was in

need of his mercies every day. When we don't

preach the cross to ourselves, we become judgmental.

We start to compare our faiths to one another.

We hold people to a higher standard than we hold

ourselves. We are quick to hold their lives under

the magnifying glass of Scripture while we look

at our sin and issues from a distance with binoculars.

And I don't mean those good ones. I mean like

those little kid broke ones. where we just kind

of imitate that we're looking for our issues.

When we don't preach the cross to ourselves all

day, every day, we become self -righteous and

prideful while elevating ourselves and lowering

Christ. We focus on the wickedness of the sin

rather than loving the sinner. We are more consumed

with who is right and who is wrong, and proving

it is the most important thing. When we do preach

the cross to ourselves all day, every day, we

can't not forgive because we're acutely aware

of how much we've been forgiven. We can't not

serve. We can't not give because we're aware

of how much we have been served and how much

we have been given. It is by his goodness. And

so with this in mind, I want to repaint the scene

in Luke. We have Jesus on the middle cross. We

have a thief on the left and on the right of

Jesus. Now we know the Romans used the crucifixion.

It was a criminal's death. We know that this

was for notorious criminals and they would placard

these people against the sky for all to see.

And it would be a deterrent, hopefully, that

no one, would repeat what they had been accused

of. We also see one of the thieves is mocking

Jesus and the other thief is rebuking him. The

other thief is like, we're justly being punished.

We deserve this. This man is innocent. But that

wasn't always the case for both thieves. One

of my favorite things to do, it's so much fun,

is to pull out the same story out of all four

gospels. Pull them out and lay them on top of

each other. And you will get a more rich, a more

full, a more life -breathing word from God. And

it will take you to deeper layers. And this is

no different. And in Matthew 27, 44, it says,

in the same way the robbers who were crucified

with him also heaped insults on him. Just hours

ago, both thieves were mocking him. Both. Thieves

were insulting him, and now one has changed his

thinking. And how this thief came to recognize

the innocence of Jesus, we're not told in this,

but you can look at Scripture as a whole, and

I think it's very clear. And first, we have to

know that saving faith is understood through

divine revelation. In Matthew 16, Jesus goes,

Peter, who do you say I am? Peter goes, well,

some say you're Elijah, some say you're a prophet.

And Jesus is like, no, I know, but who do you

say I am, Peter? And he goes, you're the Messiah,

you're the King. And Jesus goes, blessed are

you, because this was not revealed by flesh and

blood, but by my Father in heaven. In Matthew

11, no one knows the Father except the Son, and

to those the Son chooses to reveal himself to.

John 6, no one can come to me unless the Father

who sent me draws them in. And the same thing

happens within this divine revelation to every

person, thief, you, me, everyone. One is we are

aware of our brokenness and sin. We're aware

that we need a savior and that savior cannot

be us. We're also made aware of Jesus's sinlessness.

and that he took on a punishment that he didn't

deserve. We will recognize this kingship and

that there is a paradise after this. Within this,

there is repentance. Repentance gets a really

bad reputation in today's age. This is a good

word. This is a word we should celebrate. This

is a word that should make someone smile. Repentance

in the Greek is metanoeo. Meta means change,

metamorphosis, change. Noeo is thinking. Change

your thinking. When Jesus came out of the desert

after being tempted by Satan, his first words

he preached were, repent for the kingdom of heaven

is near. Change your thinking for the kingdom

of heaven is near. As we're studying Jesus' last

words on the cross, think about the thieves.

They're ones of repentance and they're etched

in history forever that we might never lose sight

of the incomparable riches of God's grace through

Jesus Christ and what he did on that cross and

the desperate need for a savior. I need to change

my thinking every day. I don't know about you.

In some area, some format, some way, equally

true. Equally true is we are held responsible

for the response to the invitation. In James,

it says, draw nearer to God and he'll draw nearer

to you. In 2 Peter, it says that God is long

suffering for us, not wishing that any should

perish, but that all should be saved and turn

to repentance. See, these are not mutually exclusive

ideas. These things are both true. And in Revelations

3 .20, it says, Here I am, I stand at the door

and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens

the door, I will come in and eat with him and

he with me. So I wanted to share this illustration

with you. It's a painting. And it's a famous

painting. This is a rendition of it. It's not

the original. It's not me. There it is. You see

Jesus is at the door. You see Jesus is on the

outside. And he's knocking at the door. And what

I want you to notice is there's no handle on

Jesus' side. He'll knock at the door, but the

handle is on the inside. And we have to open

it. And so let's think back to these two thieves

hanging next to Jesus. What did they experience?

They experienced the last words of the Messiah.

They heard Jesus say with full selflessness,

here is my mom, make sure she's being taken care

of. Make sure she's loved. Both these thieves

hear it. That was Jesus knocking at their door.

They're able to hear him pray, Father, forgive

them for they know not what they do. That was

Jesus knocking on the door to their heart. Jesus

was mocked and spit on and beaten, and he did

not retaliate. In all of his suffering, he made

no threats. Jesus was knocking on the door, and

only one of those thieves opened it. Every time

you hear a message, that is Jesus knocking on

the door to your heart. Every good and perfect

gift, the word tells us, is from the Father.

That's Jesus knocking. Even in times of desperation

and loss, and there's a sense and a need that

there's a need for something greater than ourselves,

that's Jesus knocking on the door to your heart.

It says even in Romans 1 that you can tell there's

a creator in creation. So even within nature,

sunrises, sunsets, beauty, Jesus is knocking

on the door to our heart. I was able to go to

Jordan a few weeks ago. Many of you know we did

a missions trip, and we were able to visit a

town called Azrak. Now, Azrak is two hours east

of Amman. Amman is over two million people. It's

their capital. It's a big city. Azrak is the

exact opposite. It is this little itty -bitty

town. of about 10 ,000 in the middle of nowhere.

And I was able to meet a woman named Besma. And

she was able to share with me how her husband

and daughter came to Christ first. And she was

the last one in the family to come and meet Jesus.

But she also shared with me why. See, she practiced

sorcery and witchcraft. And she used to tell

people their fortunes and read their palms. And

people would come, from Saudi Arabia and pay

$1 ,000 to $2 ,000 a day to hear what she had

to say, which means she was pretty accurate at

it, which also means there were some pretty demonic

and evil spirits involved with that. But she

shared how she looked at this husband and daughter

and everything changed in them, the way they

thought, the way they acted, the way they talked.

what they cared about, what they believed in.

And Jesus used this husband and daughter to knock

on Besma's heart. And she accepted Jesus Christ

as her Lord and Savior and forsaked all, forsaked

all of that money and that fame from that. And

now she preaches Jesus Christ unapologetically

in a country you're not allowed to do that. Yeah,

that's worth celebrating. I was also able to

visit a Christian preschool in Azraq. And so

within the kids that visit this preschool, we

did a bunch of home visits and met a bunch of

parents, a bunch of them. And these parents told

me, you know, the truth is other organizations

give us more resources, but there is an unexplainable

love that our children. received from this Christian

preschool. And so we send our kids there. God

has used that preschool to bring over a hundred

Druze to Christ in a town where there was zero.

God is using the love of that preschool to reach

parents and change people's lives. There's an

awakening in Azraq Jordan of people on fire for

Christ. Can God use your life to knock on people's

door? Can God use my life? Are we living our

lives in such a way that the way we talk to people,

the way we talk about people, the way we treat

them, are we in such a personal place with Christ

that as we're dependent solely on this, that

it affects everything in this outward area? That

our sphere of influence that God has handed us

to oversee, that it can be used to knock on the

door of people's hearts? If Christ is the only

remedy for alienation from God, how can we not

share the good news? If someone doesn't know

their loss, why would they ever look to be found?

You don't... Go to a doctor if you don't think

you're sick. If we're going to the left and it's

the wrong way, and how am I going to know to

change my thinking and turn right if I'm not

sharing Christ? If we believe this, how can we

not want someone to experience the incomparable

riches of His grace? Easter's next weekend. It's

the number one service. People that don't go

to church will go to church. There's studies

that say eight out of 10 non -believers, if asked,

said, I'll go to Easter service. Christmas is

a close second. Who are we gonna invite this

week? How much time are we going to spend praying

for God to lay a name on our heart and invite

them to Easter? All the while preaching the cross

to ourselves and being reminded of our need for

the Savior. And praying for a divine revelation

to that person's eyes and ears to be open. That

is my prayer for this church this weekend. that

we would spend time praying for God to lay a

name on our heart and invite him to Easter so

they can be a thief on the cross and be saved,

just like you were and just like I was. Let's

pray. Heavenly Father, I just come before you,

Lord, Lord, that you would just light a fire

inside of us, Lord, that, Lord, we are desperate

for you, Lord. that we are desperate for you

in every way, Father. Lord, that your presence

is with us, your Holy Spirit is poured out on

us, Father. I stand here in repentance for the

times I have lived my life, not in desperation

of you. Lord, I am in need of your goodness and

your righteousness, Lord. Reveal areas in our

lives that we need to repent and change our thinking,

Lord. Lord, for those of us that our salvation

is secure, Lord, but there's areas we're holding

on to, Lord, bring those to the forefront of

our mind that we might change our thinking and

repent. Lord, and look to you, our Savior. Lord,

for these sins have been paid for. We don't have

to be held in these chains anymore, Father. Lord,

that you would make the names of those. Father,

that you wish to be at Easter, just make them

so prominent in our minds and hearts this week,

Lord, and give us the courage and strength and

self -control, Lord, to go and invite them, not

to think about how it makes me feel or if it's

awkward or not, Lord, but that we trust in your

goodness and your power and your strength, Lord.

Father, that the spotlight should be on the cross

alone and not on us. Father, I thank you for

your love. I thank you for your mercy. I thank

you for your grace, Lord. I thank you for your

patience, Father, for your kindness leads us

to repentance. You are a good God, Lord, and

let us celebrate that in your name. Amen.