Sermon preached on Luke 23:39-43 by Rev. W. Reid Hankins during the Good Friday Service at Trinity Presbyterian Church (OPC) on 04/03/2015 in Petaluma, CA.
Sermon Manuscript
Today you will be with me in paradise. These are bold words. Who hanging on a cross, turns to another person hanging on a cross, and utters these words? The unbelieving world might conclude this is either wishful thinking or delusional thinking. But we are here tonight celebrating the cross, because these words were neither. These are instead powerful words that predicted accurately the victory Jesus would have that very day. That very day Jesus was in paradise, rejoicing in the victory of the cross. And what is especially amazing is that so was this criminal! And that’s the victory we celebrate today.
How fitting that he hung there with those criminals. How prophetic that he hung there with those criminals. My mind is immediately drawn to Isaiah 53:12, which prophesied that the Messiah would be numbered with the transgressors. He was very literally numbered with the transgressors as he hung there dying with such notorious sinners. The word to describe these criminals in Luke’s gospel is simply a generic word for criminal. However, in Mark’s gospel the word is a word that is more specific, usually translated as robber. In other words, people who steal from others using force and violence. Think bandits and pirates. These guys had done some very evil things and had finally gotten caught. Now they were facing the music for their crimes.
Why would Jesus have to be numbered with such criminals? Well, there is something important in understanding that Jesus was numbered with the transgressors. The point is that Jesus himself was not a transgressor. One of the criminals here even acknowledges that; verse 41. But Jesus had to be counted as a transgressor and face the music along with the other transgressors because that was his very mission. He came to stand in the place of sinners, and to pay the penalty for their sin. That’s how Isaiah 53 goes on to interpret this. Isaiah 53:12 says that “he bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.” In other words, the fact that Jesus became like one of these criminals on the cross, only symbolically portrays a greater truth. On the cross he was numbered not just with these two transgressors. He was numbered with all the transgressors that he would save from their sins. In other words, he died on the cross, not just to experience a punishment put upon him by the Jews and Romans. But he died on the cross to pay the penalty for the sins of those whom God would save.
What that means, is that when we think about Jesus being numbered with the transgressors, we should look beyond just these two criminals. We should include ourselves as well; we are the transgressors that Jesus was numbered with. We should realize that all of us who are forgiven by Christ, we are all numbered together with that label of transgressor; aka sinners. That’s what a transgressor is. A sinner. Someone who has broken God’s laws. I’m a sinner. You are a sinner. Everyone is a sinner. Everyone is a criminal and a repeat-offender when they compare their deeds with God’s laws. And I believe this is an important point to wrestle with for a moment when we think of Jesus dying alongside these two criminals. You see, one thing people often struggle with is the idea of Jesus forgiving what we might call “really bad criminals”. We can find it especially hard to accept when it is Jesus forgiving such people on their death bed. There is the temptation to think that we can understand Jesus forgiving the ordinary person, but that he could forgive say a murderer, or a rapist, or some other horrible criminal? We can be tempted to even get a bit upset to think of Jesus forgiving such sinners, or maybe we just doubt that he would really do that; forgive those kind of people.
But may this passage challenge us with how wrong that kind of thinking is. When we are tempted to think like that, we are thinking wrongly. Frankly, such thinking is at the core a form of pharisaical self-justification, and that’s not the kind of thinking that’s in line with salvation in Christ. Yes, it is true, that some sins are worse than others, and some people have committed more sins than others. But each and every one of us have committed many sins, and even just one sin is enough to send us to hell. To think like God should forgive us, but not some other criminal, is to essentially say that our sins aren’t that bad; that our sins are somehow more forgivable. But that is to justify ourselves and minimize our sin, while looking down on others. It’s the same trap we saw of so many Pharisees during Jesus day. They’d look down on the notorious sinners, saying “I’m glad I’m not like that sinner.” That was an attitude Jesus greatly condemned. So then, when we see this great criminal being forgiven, be happy for him. And realize that you are like him; a sinner; a transgressor; a criminal who has broken the law of God; and you are greatly forgiven because Jesus faced the wrath of God in your place; for you. This is what we celebrate on Good Friday.
Well then, as we celebrate the forgiveness that we receive in Jesus Christ, let us clarify that this is not a forgiveness that everyone receives. This is because not everyone has received Christ as their Savior and Lord. There are in fact two criminals that hang here with Jesus, and only one has the right response to Jesus. Interestingly, both of these criminals have a similar history. The same language is used of each. We are not left thinking that one started as a worse criminal than the other. In fact, Matthew’s gospel makes it sound like both of them at first reviled Jesus. Yet, by the sovereign grace of God, we see his work to convict this particular criminal to repent and turn in faith to Jesus Christ.
And so we see the two very different responses. One criminal mocked and scoffed at Jesus. His words seem similar to a number of the bystanders on the ground who also mocked Jesus in a similar way. His mockers falsely thought that his hanging on the cross demonstrated that he was not the Messiah. They falsely thought that to be the savior of God’s people he would have to first save himself from the cross. But of course we know that the opposite was true. In order to save his people from their sins, he had to remain on the cross. The cross was not a defeat of the Messiah but a victory achieved by the Messiah. And yet the one criminal’s scoffing of Jesus only serves to show that he had rejected Jesus. As such, he is left in his sin and receives his just condemnation, both in this age, and in the age to come.
Yet there was this other criminal. He calls to Jesus for salvation. In his words to the other criminal he clearly acknowledges his sin. In calling out to Jesus, it showed that he understood Jesus could save him. That Jesus could pardon him in the kingdom he was ushering in. And what faith it is that this man, as hung there dying with Jesus, believed that the cross did not mean defeat for Jesus. Because he asks Jesus to yet remember him when he does come into his kingdom. That’s faith that sees beyond the earthly circumstances. It’s a recognition that Jesus’ identity and power goes beyond what the Jews and Romans were putting upon him at the cross. Of course, by these few words, it’s hard to know exactly what this man did or did not believe about Jesus. But we see Jesus’ encouraging response and we know this man had a true, saving faith. Praise the Lord, that even in the last hours of this man’s life, who had heaped up such guilt upon himself, that the cross of Jesus Christ was yet sufficient to save him.
So then, let’s turn then finally to consider Jesus’ words to this repentant criminal. Actually, first notice the response he gives to the scoffing, unrepentant, criminal. He says nothing. That’s not good for that criminal, by the way. That unrepentant criminal is left in his sins, and in such a short time, he will pass from hanging there on the cross, to tasting of an eternal punishment direct from the hand of God. But to the criminal who repents and cries out to Jesus, he is granted even more than he asks for, and surely even more than he imagined.
For Jesus tells him, “Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise.” And so notice as I just stated, this is better than what the criminal asked for. He asked that Jesus would remember him when he comes into his kingdom. The criminal’s request implies that this would be something for the future. That one day, when Jesus comes into his kingdom in glory, then will you remember me? But Jesus says “today”. “Today” you will experience my salvation. And the criminal wanted simply to be remembered, obviously meaning that he’d be remembered in some good and positive way. But the criminal doesn’t go into detail of what that remembrance might mean. But of course, how could he? He’s a criminal and knows he is unworthy of any special favor from King Jesus. But if Jesus would yet in his mercy remember him with some favor — that’s what the criminals asks for. But Jesus assures him of paradise. That he would be in paradise. And even more, that Jesus would be with him in that paradise.
And so Jesus promises him that this very day he would know Jesus’ salvation. That very day he would come into paradise with his new Lord. He would be with Jesus forever in this eternal rest. Praise be to God!
Of course, we remember tonight why Jesus could assure this most wonderful salvation to this criminal. It was because of what he was doing there on the cross. That’s why Jesus had to hang there and die. To pay for the sins of all who would turn to him in faith. If Jesus’ didn’t make atonement for sin on the cross, he couldn’t bring salvation to this criminal. And he couldn’t bring salvation to you and me. But he did hang on that cross. He did atone for our sin. We rejoice in this truth again this evening.
In closing this evening, I would like to quote Jesus from John 6:37. He says, “All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out.” There, Jesus promises that he will not turn any away. Any who are truly repentant and come to him in faith, Jesus will not deny them. Even at someone’s death bed, while they are still alive, there is yet hope for them. This criminal, before it was too late, turned and called out to the Lord, and was saved. Many of us have known loved ones who also called out to the Lord and found salvation on their death beds. This passage greatly encourages us for their sakes.
And yet I suspect there are not too many of us here who are on our deathbeds. Yet, at the same time, none of us know how long we will live on this earth. If you are here today taking false hope that you can ignore the call of Christ for now; if you think you can wait to turn to him in faith and repentance, that you can save that for later in your life, I urge you to not fall into such foolish thinking. Do not mock the grace and kindness of God. At any moment, God might demand your life from you. You may not have a chance to try to make some deathbed conversion. Rather, if you’ve been convicted today of your sin and guilt, the Bible calls you to delay no longer. Today, let today, be the day of your salvation. Repent and believe in Jesus Christ. Call out to him for salvation, and you will be saved.
One of the best reasons to not wait until your deathbed to try to come to Christ, is so that you don’t miss out on all the goodness of being a disciple of Christ in this world. Yes, there are difficulties associated with that. But there is something beautiful about daily taking up your cross and following Christ. May that be then our final application today. I speak to those who know Christ. By the grace of God, you are not hanging on a cross next to Jesus today. Likely, you will not go to be with Jesus today in paradise. You are not in paradise right now, that’s for sure. And yet Jesus is nonetheless with you. He is with you by the Holy Spirit. And so as we look forward to paradise, go forth in this world as Jesus’ disciple. Learn from him. Seek to grow like him. In your struggles, trust in the forgiveness he won for you on the cross. And let us tell others of how they too can know the salvation that Christ achieved for us through the cross. Amen.
Copyright © 2015 Rev. W. Reid Hankins, M.Div.
All Rights Reserved.
