Faith in the Savior: The sermon preached by the thief on the cross

 

How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him who brings good news, who publishes peace, who brings good news of happiness, who publishes salvation, who says to Zion, "Your God reigns."  --Isaiah 52:7

Alistair Begg has an interesting sermon, imagining the thief on the cross at the Pearly Gates, being interviewed by the angel in charge of admission.

Think about the thief on the cross. What an immense… I can’t wait to find that fellow one day to ask him, “How did that shake out for you? Because you were cussing the guy out with your friend. You’d never been in a Bible study. You’d never got baptized. You didn’t know a thing about church membership. And yet—and yet, you made it! You made it! How did you make it?”

That’s what the angel must have said—you know, like, “What are you doing here?”

“Well, I don’t know.”

“What do you mean, you don’t know?”

“Well, ’cause I don’t know.”

“Well, you know… Excuse me. Let me get my supervisor.”

They go get the supervisor angel: “So, we’ve just a few questions for you. First of all, are you clear on the doctrine of justification by faith?”

The guy says, “I’ve never heard of it in my life.”

“And what about… Let’s just go to the doctrine of Scripture immediately.”

This guy’s just staring.

And eventually, in frustration, he says, “On what basis are you here?”

And he said, “The man on the middle cross said I can come.”

Now Pastor Begg may have been going for a laugh here, but I take exception to the idea that one minute this guy was hanging on a cross enduring torture and deriding Jesus, taunting and cursing Him, and the next proclaiming Him as the Messiah.  

Yes, I know that Matthew and Mark both report that both of the criminals crucified on either side of Jesus taunted Him with curses and slander.  But Luke makes a distinction between one criminal and the other.

One of the criminals who were hanged railed at Him, saying, "Are you not the Christ? Save Yourself and us!"  But the other rebuked him, saying, "Do you not fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? And we indeed justly, for we are receiving the due reward for our deeds; this this Man has done nothing wrong."  And he said, "Jesus, remember me when you come into Your kingdom."  And He said to him, "Truly I say to you, today you will be with Me in Paradise."  --Luke 23:40-43

Now, there are a lot of things about this story that we don't know.  For example, we don't know if Matthew and Mark were speaking in generalities, or whether they stood on the outskirts of the crowd and did not hear the private conversation between Jesus and those closest to Him.  

For his part, Luke was not mentioned among the disciples.  We do not know if he was present at the crucifixion, or if he had sources who saw it first-hand and told him about it later.  We also know that Luke was the only one that wrote about the soldiers casting lots for Jesus's clothing.  He was the one Gospel writer who noted Jesus's words, "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they are doing."

So when Luke records that there was a difference of opinion between the two thieves, we can trust his testimony.  Some may cite this as an apparent contradiction in the scriptural texts, but it is easily explained by each Gospel writer having a different point of view.  It is actually evidence of the veracity of Scripture that four different people wrote from their own experience under the influence of the Holy Spirit.

But back to the penitent thief.  We do not know at what point he placed his faith in Jesus.  We don't know what experiences he had between his arrest and his execution, or what experience he had with Jesus leading up to this scene.  What we do know is that with his dying words, the unnamed thief preached a powerful sermon.  He touched on some serious doctrinal truths.

The Fear of God

The man castigated his compatriot for railing against Jesus, advising him that the fear of God meant respecting His Son.  Proverbs 9:10 says, "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of Wisdom, and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding."  At some point God gave this man understanding, as he recognized that even in death, he was in the presence of the Holy One.  Simon Peter, a disciple of Jesus, made a similar confession in John 6:69 when he said, "And we have believed, and have come to know, that You are the Holy One of God."

The Curse of Sin

The man pointed out that he, and the one two crosses down, were facing justice for their crimes.  They were properly condemned for crimes against humanity.  In a broader sense, all sin separates us from God.  Paul wrote, "The wages of sin is death." (Romans 6:23).  None of us is immune to sin: "For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." (Romans 3:23).  Sin brings condemnation.  Jesus did not.  He said in John 3:17, "For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through Him."

Jesus is Our Atonement

The man's confession of sin's curse and the fear of God led him to have faith in Jesus.  Jesus is our only hope of avoiding death and hell.  Paul wrote: 

We are justified by His grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by His blood, to be received by faith.  This was to show God's righteousness, because in His divine forbearance He had passed over former sins.  It was to show His righteousness at the present time, so that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.  --Romans 3:24-26

By God's grace, this man believed that Jesus was the justifier, the One who by His own death would be the propitiation for our sins, and by His sacrifice would become our atonement.  In other words, Jesus was this man's only hope of salvation.

Anticipatory Delight: The Crowd's Misguided Expectation Of The Triumphal Entry

 

This is the day which Yahweh has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.  Oh Yahweh, save!  Oh Yahweh, succeed!  Blessed is the one who comes in the name of Yahweh; we have blessed you from the house of Yahweh.  --Psalm 118:24-26 (Legacy Standard Bible)

When I was in college, especially after studying Elizabethan and Shakespearean literature, my classmates and I would often speak in pleonasms.  A pleonasm is a term for the use of more words than are necessary to convey meaning, either as a fault of style or for emphasis.  For example, when we were told that we should not end a sentence with a preposition, we would say, "It is a situation up with which I will not put!"  This phrase is generally attributed to Churchill, although it is likely misappropriated.

Another phrase we loved to use was this:  "I have been looking forward to it with the greatest of anticipatory delight."  Although this might be a phrase most appropriate for, say, a child looking forward to Christmas, we did not use it in that way.  Due to the pedantic nature of the phrase, it was usually spoken satirically.  We would often express this idea sarcastically in the week leading up to final exams.

"Anticipatory delight" is the act of looking forward to something pleasant or exciting, like a vacation, a special event, or a new opportunity.  However, many times the anticipation can be even more enjoyable than the event itself.  This is described by the German word Vorfreude.

I think this spirit of anticipation was surging through the crowd at the event that we call the Triumphal Entry of Jesus into Jerusalem.  Churches all over the world will feature sermons about this tomorrow, as the beginning of Holy Week is generally called "Palm Sunday."  

All four gospels give an account of Jesus coming into Jerusalem for the final time in His life.  Even though He arrived on the back of a donkey (not a white stallion, as would befit a conquering king), He was met with a crowd of people welcoming Him as the savior of Israel.  They waved palm branches, which symbolized a victorious leader or conquering hero.  Perhaps they thought that He would throw off Roman oppression.  

They shouted, "Hosanna to the Son of David" and "Hosanna in the highest."  The word hosanna is a Greek word of Hebrew origin, meaning "Lord, save!"  Perhaps it was a transliteration of a Hebrew word used by Jews in the Roman culture.

Hosanna: in the Hebrew, means "save, we pray." The word seems to have become an utterance of praise rather than of prayer, though originally, probably, a cry for help. The people's cry at the Lord's triumphal entry into Jerusalem (Mat 21:9, 15; Mar 11:9, 10; Jhn 12:13) was taken from Ps. 118, which was recited at the Feast of Tabernacles in the great Hallel (Psalms 113 to 118) in responses with the priest, accompanied by the waving of palm and willow branches. "The last day of the feast" was called "the great Hosanna;" the boughs also were called "hosannas." (Vine's Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words)

As I looked at various translations of Psalm 118:24, I discovered that the majority of them agree with the ESV: "Save us, we pray O Lord!  O Lord we pray, give us success."  The word success is variously translated "prosper us" or "give us prosperity."  This may, in fact, be the sentiment of the crowd that day.  

Many of them may have been in the group of 5000 that Jesus fed with five loaves and two small fish.  If Jesus was their king, they must have thought, then all of their physical needs would be met.  Others may have thought Him to be a political figure.  If Jesus would just give them independence from their Roman oppressors, then they could be more successful.  Even if Jesus was not a political figure or a benevolent ruler, His celebrity would bring them notoriety, status, or recognition among their peers.

Most of them would be sorely disappointed.

For them, the delightful anticipation of Jesus' triumphal entry was greater than the actual event.  Vorfreude indeed.  Jesus would not ascend to the throne of a third-rate middle eastern region.  He would not overthrow Roman oppression.  He would not "live happily ever after" or give them prosperity due to their proximity.

Instead, He would die for them.  He would become the sacrificial atonement for their sins, and not for theirs only, but for the sins of the entire world.  He would be the Lamb of God, who takes away our sin (see John 1:29).

Out of 59 Bible translations, only two give an alternate meaning to Psalm 118:24.  One of them is quoted above: "O Yahweh, save! O Yahweh, succeed!"  The other is the Young's Literal Translation (YLT), which says, "I beseech Thee, O Jehovah, save, I pray Thee, I beseech Thee, O Jehovah, prosper, I pray Thee."  Instead of asking God to prosper us, to make us successful, the meaning here could be a prayer that God succeed in His will, that His plan would prosper.  It could be a cry for help, for mercy, for rescue.

Isaiah 55:8-9 says, "For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways, declares the Lord.  For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways and My thoughts than your thoughts."  Perhaps if we thought less of our own interests and success and more of God's prosperity, we might be more attuned to His will, His work, His way.  We might also be more humble.

In my daily Bible reading, I am working quickly through the minor prophets.  This morning I read from the book of Micah.

But as for me, I will look to the Lord; I will wait for the God of my salvation; my God will hear me.  Rejoice not over me, O my enemy; when I fall, I shall rise; when I sit in darkness, the Lord will be a light to me. --Micah 7:7-8

Jesus said in John 16:33, "I have said these things to you, that in Me you may have peace.  In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart: I have overcome the world."  Jesus promised peace, not prosperity.  In this world there will be trouble, trials, and tribulation for us.  Our minds should not take notice of these things.  Instead we should focus on God's love.  

Micah 7:18 says, "Who is a God like You, pardoning iniquity and passing over transgression for the remnant of His inheritance?  He does not retain His anger forever, because He delights in steadfast love."  One of my favorite passages of Scripture is Lamentations 3:22-23, which says, "The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; His mercies never come to an end.  They are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness." 

God is faithful.  How do we know? Because of His great mercy, which is new every morning.  We deserve His wrath.  That is our default position.  It is only by His grace and mercy that we are not consumed.  When we realize this truth, we do not follow the crowd seeking fortune, fame, or freedom from oppression.  Instead we stand secure in Him, knowing that in the Lord our labor is not in vain (see 1 Corinthians 15:58).

One final thought.  Although we are not promised success in our every endeavor in this life, we do delight in our anticipation of our heavenly home.  One day we will be given our reward, and we will cast our crowns at the feet of Jesus.  

But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ.  Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.  For His sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith--that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and may share His sufferings, becoming like Him in His death, that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead. --Philippians 3:7-11

As long as we draw breath, our purpose is to know God and glorify Him, to seek His success.  The fact that it may not look like we think success should look like will not distract us from our duty.  God is sovereign, and we are His servants.