Faith Baptist Church
4258 Botetourt Road
Fincastle, Virginia 24090
(540) 473-2325
Luke 23:39-43
The day Jesus Christ died on the cross for our sins he was flanked by two malefactors. They were both workers of sin and evil; kako/urgos, evil workers. Both met their death on the same day Jesus Christ met his. Both knew of the stories of this man Jesus, and of his ability to heal and raise the dead. They both heard of his deep compassion for souls. They both knew he claimed to be the anointed of God, the Christ.
At one point in the early hours of the crucifixion both of the malefactors reviled Christ, Mk.15:32... “And they that were crucified with Him reviled Him.” The word reviled, oneidizo, means to reproach. They hurled their criticism and condemnation of Christ, and in essence they called him a fake, a forger, a liar. You can easily imagine Satan being there on that day prodding these men on. Satan knew who the Man on the middle cross was. He along with all his host of fallen demons danced around the cross with glee. Finally the plan of God for Christ to save lost sinners was put to rest. Finally those foolish followers of this Jesus would be silenced. Truly the gates of hell would prevail that day and from then on. From Satan’s vantage point standing before the old rugged cross Satan would never have believed the words our Lord spoke in Jn.12:31, “Now is the judgment of this world; now shall the prince of this world be cast out.” The Greek word for world here is cosmos which relates to Satan’s orderly system of covet and overt hatred for God.
During the first three hours on the three crosses we see the whole world’s attitude toward the Son of God. Jesus Christ saw himself as the Savior being lifted up for all people to see so that all humanity might be saved, Jn.12:32 “And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me.” He said earlier in Jn.3:14-16 “And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up, That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life, 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.”
The thieves saw themselves, even while in excruciating pain, as needing no one to save them. Our Lord was railed against because the people, from the religious priest on down to the thieving paupers found nothing in Christ that appealed to their sense of need. Isaiah prophesied of this very point; ... “and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him. He is despised and rejected of men, a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief, and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not.” Isa.53:2-3.
The scribes and chief priests said if He be the King of Israel descend now from the cross that we may see and believe.
Jesus Christ had already performed miracle after miracle and yet they would not believe, Jn.14:11. He had already repeated to them his presence in their Old Testament scriptures, yet they did not believe. And he told them they would die in their sins if they did not believe he was the Son of God, Jn.8:23-24 cp Jn.4:25-26.
One malefactor said in Lk.23:39 “if thou be the Christ, save thyself and us.” However, he was not referring to eternal salvation, only physical preservation for a few more days or perhaps years upon this earth. If the thief on the cross who asked only for physical salvation was granted his wish by Christ, he still would have to face death and the hereafter at some time.
Without eternal salvation he would not be ready for the hereafter, and neither are any of us. The Bible says in Heb.9:27, “And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment.” If we receive Christ as our Savior, then we accept Him as our judgment substitute. If not we will be judged to eternal damnation for all eternity. The choice is up to every one of us.
I have known lost men who were dying and all they were concerned with was getting better. The thought that they would not get better tormented their souls. If they thought of salvation from the eternal perspective Jesus Christ would draw more of their attention. But people act as if they are going to be in this present life forever. This is the deceit of the old sin nature, that is, that we are never going to die. Apparently the reality that death was happening to the two thieves had not completely sunk in during the first three hours on their crosses. Jesus Christ, on the other hand, faced death with the certainty that he would be raised again in three literal days, Jn.2:18-22. No such certainty comforted the two thieves.
But sometime prior to the mid day sun becoming dark across the entire globe as per Luke 23:44, one of the thieves on the cross had had a change of heart. This poor wretched soul came to his senses. His pain was accompanied with the imminent reality that he was soon going to pass over to the unknown world by way of the door of death. The ability to push himself up on his cross to get a little air in his burning lungs was waning. Time was running out and he was into staring eternity. He knew Jesus was who He said he was. He knew Jesus Christ was sinless. He knew all these things because he accepted what the Holy Spirit was showing him about Jesus Christ, and in Lk.23:42 the repentant sinner on the cross said unto Jesus, Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom. By proclaiming Jesus Christ as Lord, kurios, vocative singular, this repentant sinner was saying I address you as the only Lord; if I could come off of this cross where I hang between heaven and earth I would bow my knees to you as my Redeemer. And Jesus in his passion said to the repentant sinner on the cross, "Verily [truly] I say unto thee, Today shalt thou be with me in paradise.”
And each one of three men on the cross died that day. Jesus Christ, when he had finished his work of bearing our sins upon his cross, said it is finished, and of his own will he gave up his spirit and died. The other two on their crosses would die later in that same day. One apparently did not repent and he was ushered into the torment side of Hades where he is to this day consciously awaiting his final sentencing at the Great White Throne judgment. The other sinner on the cross did repent. He admitted in Lk.23:40-41 that he was a guilty condemned sinner. And in Lk.23:42 he professed Christ as Lord and Savior. When he died he went to Abraham’s bosom; another term for paradise where Old Testament believer’s souls were ushered at death, Lk.16:22.
The Old Testament believers remained, in conscious bliss, in this prepared place of joy and fellowship, until Jesus Christ descended from his grave whereby He lead them on to His Father’s home in the third heavens. At Calvary there were two sinners, and one Savior. There were two different decisions with two different outcomes. Do you have the humility to say as did the repentant sinner, I know I am guilty? I know I stand condemned before the Lord. I know Jesus Christ is the sinless Savior who died for me and I confess him as my Lord. If you haven’t accepted Jesus Christ as your Savior, will you do so today? Do not put off such an important eternal decision today for a tomorrow you are not guaranteed.