 We'll be looking at verses 33 through 43, rather verse 32 through 43. Let me begin reading in Luke chapter 23 at verse 32, and we'll get into our Good Friday message. There were also two others, criminals 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, one on the right hand and the other on the left. 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. But even the rulers with them sneered, saying he saved others, let him save himself. If he's the Christ, the chosen of God, the soldiers also mocked him, coming and offering him sour wine and saying, if you're the king of the Jews, save yourself. And an inscription also was written over him in letters of Greek, Latin, and Hebrew. This is the king of the Jews. Then one of the criminals who were hanged blasphemed him saying, if you're the Christ, save yourself and us. But the other answering rebuked him saying, do you not even fear God seeing you are under the same condemnation? And we indeed justly, for we receive the due reward of our deeds. But this man has done nothing wrong. He said to Jesus, Lord, remember me when you come into the kingdom. And Jesus said to him, assuredly I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise. Let me share a few things running up to this particular portion of Scripture. Just a few days before on Palm Sunday, Jesus had entered into the city of Jerusalem. And as we recently looked at that passage, we saw that he entered into Jerusalem to enthusiastic praise. It's estimated that there were over 2 million people in the city of Jerusalem at that time. They were there to celebrate Passover. In fulfillment to a prophecy of a prophecy that was made by a man by the name of Zechariah, Jesus rode in on the fall of a donkey. People had descended from the city of Bethany, which is just about two miles or so outside to the east of Jerusalem. And others came out of the city of Jerusalem, and the two crowds had converged. And as he was nearing the city of Jerusalem, people began to cry out praises to him. Hosanna to the son of David. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Hosanna in the highest. Blessed is the kingdom of our Father David that comes in the name of the Lord. Hosanna in the highest. Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord. Peace in heaven, glory in the highest. The volume would have been thunderous, and the moment would have been electric. We're told that he entered into the city, into Jerusalem, and he went to the temple, and he looked around. It was late, so he left, but he returned the next day, and he cleansed it. Mark tells us in chapter 11, verses 15 through 17, on reaching Jerusalem, Jesus entered the temple courts and began driving out those who were buying and selling there. He overturned the tables of the money changers and the benches of those selling doves, and would not allow anyone to carry merchandise through the temple courts. Then Jesus began to teach them, and he declared, is it not written, my house will be called a house of prayer for all the nations? But you've made it a den of robbers. You see, when Solomon had built the first temple, it took him seven years to complete it. And when he finally dedicated the temple, he prayed. It's found in 1 Kings chapter 8, verses 41 through 43. He prayed, and asked for the foreigner who is not of your people Israel, but has come from a distant land because of your name, for they will hear of your great name, and your mighty and outstretched arm. When he comes and prays toward this temple, then may you hear from heaven your dwelling place, and do according to all for which the foreigner calls to you. Then all the peoples of the earth will know your name and fear you, as do your people Israel, and they will know that this house I have built is called by your name. In 2 Chronicles chapter 7, verses 1 and 2, it says, when Solomon had finished praying, fire came down from heaven and consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifices, and the glory of the Lord filled the house, and the priests could not enter the house of the Lord because the glory of the Lord filled the Lord's house. That temple had been dedicated, it was dedicated to the glory of God. It was a place of reverence. It was a place of witness to the world. We've been to that place many times to the temple mount, and there's a place there called the southern steps, and these southern steps are the actual steps that Jesus himself would have climbed as he would have entered into the temple area, into what is called the court of the Gentiles. But this court of the Gentiles, the place that is called the house of prayer for all nations, including the Gentiles who would go into that particular area, had been turned into a marketplace. Instead of a house of prayer, it was a den of thieves. And we remember how that Jesus, for the second time, because in his first portion of his ministry in John chapter 2, he cleansed it the first time, now at the conclusion for the second time, he cleansed it. When you look at the rest of the week of Jesus after entering in and all, it was filled with ministry. We see that he debates religious leaders, he goes and teaches what is called the Olivet Discourse on the Mount of Olives. He shares concerning a variety of things. And then on Thursday, the observed Passover. Passover was celebrated with his disciples. Judas at that time was still present, but Judas left to betray him. After Judas left, we've seen how Jesus instituted communion. Then he went to the garden, the Garden of Gethsemane just outside of the walls. He agonized in prayer. And it was there that Judas completed his betrayal. Jesus had told his men, you will all forsake me and flee. And they did. They left him. And Jesus was arrested and he was tried by the religious authorities. During his three years of ministry, he had made many enemies. His greatest antagonists were a religious party called the Pharisees. They desired his death because they thought he was a blasphemer. They believed this because he had stated he was the son of God. In John 5.18, John tells us for this reason the Jews tried all the harder to kill him. Not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own father, making himself equal with God. Well, when taken to the high priest, he was asked, are you the son of the Blessed? And he answered yes. And when he did, he was found guilty of blasphemy. And we see how that they spit upon him and they struck him. Now blasphemy was a religious charge. It's a capital offense. And it was this charge that they brought to Pontius Pilate in John's Gospel in chapter 19, verses 6 and 7. It says, when the chief priests and officers saw him, they cried out saying, crucify him, crucify him. Pilate said to them, you take him and crucify him. I find no fault in him. We have a law and according to our law, he ought to die because he made himself the son of God. Now they knew that a religious charge was not sufficient because of this. They created a secular charge, the charge of rebellion or sedition. And that's the charge that they used as they were presenting to Pilate, the demand for his death. In Luke 23, verse 2, they say, we have found this fellow perverting in the nation and forbidding to pay taxes to Caesar saying that he himself is Christ the king. So they brought up a political charge against Christ in order that he would be put to death. Now Pilate's wife had approached him and it said, have nothing to do with this righteous man. I've suffered many things this night in a dream because of him. But under pressure, Pilate yielded to their demands. We saw how that his soldiers mocked Jesus. They put a purple robe on him. They pressed a crown of thorns on his head. They struck him, spat on him. They scourged him. They put his own clothes back on him and led him away to be crucified. I've mentioned to you that all of this mocking was bad enough, but the scourging was called the living death. Many, many prisoners would die under the lash because the scourging was brutal. There was a wooden handle. It had leather, nine leather thongs, and the thongs had broken bone or metal pieces in it. And there were two who would take turns hitting the person who was being scourged. And many, many times, everybody would faint, but many times people died under that. So Jesus was bloodied up and they had put his, they put a robe on him. They took it off, put his own robe on him, and then let him out to die. He was sentenced to die on a cross, which is a Roman method of execution. In Israel, capital punishment was normally by stoning. His sentence to die for crucifixion actually fulfilled an ancient prophecy found in Psalm 22, verse 16, where it says, dogs have compassed me, the assembly of the wicked have enclosed me. They pierced my hands and my feet. And that's where we're picking up this story. You see, when Jesus was crucified, he wasn't crucified alone. Verse 32 tells us there were also two others. Criminals led with him to be put to death. When it speaks of them as being criminals, though the word criminal speaks of violent men capable of murder. There were robbers. Now these men were more than likely part of a band of men that were following a revolutionary by the name of Barabbas. Barabbas had been in jail for insurrection as well as murder. And many had sympathized with him. His desire for revolution, his desire to be freed up from the oppression of Rome, and many of the Jews were on his side. They wanted a revolution. He wanted a political solution. But what Jesus came to bring, and everybody's heard this phrase recently, Jesus came to bring a Jesus revolution. That's what he came to bring. He came to rule over the hearts of those who would receive him. I think that that idea of revolution is popular once again. This is an old saying, what goes around comes around. And it's popular once again. It was popular during the time that I was a young man many centuries ago. In my generation, growing up in the 50s and 60s, in my generation in the late 60s, there's a lot of nostalgic kind of sentiment related to that. Sometimes I see young people trying to dress up like hippies and it kind of makes me laugh because you put it on on the outside but you don't know what was going on in the inside. There was a musical group, and I won't bore you with too many things about this, but just to set a few thoughts for you. There was a musical group called Crosby Stills Nation Young and they had a song called Helplessly Hopeless. And that was my generation. We were helplessly hopeless. We had things going on that sometimes people forget. We had the Vietnam War. We had assassinations. We had campus takeovers. We had drug and alcohol abuse. We had riots. And we had something that was really racism. Today there's people using the word racism like it's just a word to use. I grew up when there was real racism, when there was real evil, real hatred for people. And that was just part of what we grew up with. I believed in a revolution. I wanted to see things changed. I wanted to see the world better. I thought the world could become better if we just all got high. That's kind of how I thought. A lot of hippies thought that way. Let's just drop some acid. Let's just smoke some dope. And let's just chill out and let the hard workers work and we'll just take what they produce. That sounds good to me. That was the way I thought. A lot of us did. People wanted a revolution. We even sang about revolution. But I knew that if I just changed the government, I knew that even as an unbeliever, if the government changed, that wouldn't change anything really. All it would do is replace one evil man with another evil man. And I knew that even as a rebellious young man, I knew the problem wasn't in others so much as in myself. And I came to find that the only revolution that will ever last is the Jesus revolution. That's because faith in Christ results in a new heart. It results in a new life. It resulted in a new me. The old me died and the new me came to life through the power of the Holy Spirit. That came through the gospel of Jesus Christ. It didn't come from laws and it didn't come from some man. It came from Jesus Christ in his gospel. It came from Jesus dying on a cross to set me free. The Bible makes it very clear in John 111 and 12. It says he came to that which was his own, but his own didn't receive him. Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God. We used to call one another, you know, children of God. We call each other brother and sister. But there was no reality to that. When I got saved, I found out what a true family is. It's the family of Christ. And I found out what a true revolution is. It's the revolution of the heart. And that revolution came through Jesus Christ. And that's what the thief on the cross is about to find out. It says in verse 33, when they had come to the place called Calvary, there they crucified him and the criminals, one on the right hand and the other on the left. So Jesus and the robbers are in a place called Calvary. Calvary in Latin, it means place of the skull. It was located just outside the walls of the city. It was on a public road. And so he's crucified there so that the people who are walking by on the road will be able to see him. He wasn't on top of a hill or a mountain. He was in front of it. And so the population that would pass by, especially in this busy intersection, would see these dying people on crosses and would be warned. It would be a way of deterring them from doing something that would get them placed on this cross and all. And so Jesus is there with these two others and they're there on a public road. Now what provoked him to do this? Why? It was his mercy and it was his love for us. The cost of salvation is beyond our ability to pay. So he paid for us. In Psalm 49 verses 7 through 9 it says no man can redeem the life of another or give to God a ransom for him. The ransom for a life is costly. No payment is ever enough that he should live on forever and not see decay. No human being could pay the price for ransom. It took God himself, taken upon himself human flesh to do that for us. And because of his love he was put on a cross. It was love that put him on the cross and it was love that kept him on that cross for us. Now they broke both God's laws and man's law. They were sentenced to die by being placed between two thieves and another ancient prophecy was fulfilled. Isaiah 53 verse 12 which speaks of Messiah. He was numbered with the transgressors. Now that didn't bother him. He had a habit of being around sinners. By nature all of us are sinners. All of us break God's law. Every day I remember my mom sharing when my mom was still alive. My mom shared with me how that she was speaking to somebody and she wanted to to share the gospel with her. My mom was a real evangelist. She used to like to share the gospel a lot and so she would tell me stories. She said, David, I was talking to a woman and I was sharing with her about Jesus and I shared what the Lord could do and all. And I said to her, would you like to receive Christ as your Lord and Savior? And the woman said, yes I would. So my mom said, okay, pray with me. And mom said, she says to the woman, dear Lord, the woman says, dear Lord, I come to you. I come to you to ask for your forgiveness for I am a sinner. And she says, the woman stopped praying and looked at me and said, I'm not a sinner. There are a lot of people who don't think they're sinners. And so my mom could have said, yes, you are, you're a liar. No, she didn't say that because you are a sinner. The Bible says all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. There's none righteous. No, not one. There was only one righteous person. That's Jesus Christ. And he died for us. And his death is what the Bible refers to in its technical terms. It's substitutionary. It means he died in our place. He ransomed us. He purchased us. And he did so with his own blood. In 1 Peter, later the apostle would write this in chapter one, verses 18 and 19. And he says, you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your forefathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or a defect. Jesus died for us. He loved us. And when he died for us, he was showing us something about God. He was declaring to us the righteous justice of a holy God. You see, some people look at God and think he's kind of like a benevolent non-judgmental grandfatherly type. Because that's kind of how I am with my grandkids. You know, my grandkids are answers to prayer from Marie and me. We prayed that our children would have kids just as bad as them. And God answered the prayer. And so what we can do is we just spoil them. Give them a lot of candy, send them home and see how their parents like it. Right, Grandpa? Well, sometimes people look at God like he's a non-judgmental grandfather, a benevolent man. The Bible says he's actually a righteous God and he hates sin and he hates rebellion. And because he's righteous, he's also a judge and he's a just judge. And because he's a just judge, a righteous judge, the penalty of sin has to be exacted. Because of that, God sent his son in order that he might save us from judgment. The Old Testament book of Ecclesiastes 3 verse 17, Solomon said, I said to myself in due season, God will judge everyone, both good and bad, for all their deeds. Later in chapter 12 verse 14 of Ecclesiastes, he said, he said this, he said, God will bring every deed into judgment along with every hidden thing, whether good or evil. Every hidden thing. There are things that many of us think that we're hiding while we may be able to hide them from others, but we can't hide them from God. And there's no second chance. There are so many who believe that they're going to get a second chance. The Bible in Hebrews 9 27 says it's appointed unto men to die once and after this the judgment. There are no second chances. So he also revealed his grace in sending Jesus to us and he gave us his mercy in Romans 3 25 and 26. It says God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement through faith in his blood. He did this to demonstrate his justice because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished. He did it to demonstrate his justice at the present time. So as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus. So he presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement to demonstrate his justice. And then third, he openly manifested his love, his grace and his mercy to us. Somebody says, does God love us? And the answer is yes. Well, how would I know? God demonstrated his own love toward us and that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. How do I know? He sent his son to die for me and he sent his son to die for you. These two men deserved the penalty that they were paying but Jesus didn't. It was his death that would provide salvation for man. It says they crucified him in verse 33 and the criminals, one on the right and one on the left. They put him on a cross. Now I've shared with you before that crucifixion was actually refined by the Romans. It was something that they had refined that would cause the greatest amount of pain over the greatest amount of time. And so the hands would be nailed to a cross beam. The legs would be twisted, nailed to a post. The victim would be placed on the beam and he would be sat upon a sharpened iron saddle peg. And so the saddle peg would be in the shape of, we'll say, a pencil. It was larger, made out of metal, sharp and it was placed in an uncomfortable place on back. So when the prisoner was hanging there, normally that prisoner would die in a variety of ways, including suffocation. In order for the prisoner to be able to breathe, the prisoner, though his legs would be twisted in a serpentine shape underneath him, he would have to lift himself up. He'd have to pull himself up in order for his rib cage to allow his lungs to expand so he could take in air. So every time Jesus lifted himself up, that sharpened saddle peg was in his back. His back had already been lacerated. It was like hamburger through the scourging that he had endured. So you have to, for a moment, imagine the incredible agony he had been going through. Because every time he would lift himself up to breathe, that saddle peg, that iron, would slice a row in his back. Every breath that he took would be an agony. He would take a breath and feel the pain. The cross was usually twice the height of a man, the man being crucified. They would dig a post hole and they would slide the cross into it and it would hit with a sickening thud and it would cause pain to course through the entire body. As they're hanging there, their shoulders dislocate, their rib cage compresses the lungs, their veins begin to bulge, congestion of blood begins to form in the head, lungs, and the heart. Jesus had suffered head wounds. His back was ripped open by the scourging. Dehydration was causing cramping of the leg muscles. Intense fever would follow. Dehydration, shock would set in and ultimately they died of suffocation. Sometimes the prisoners who had been crucified would die several days later. They could stay on that cross due to their strength, sometimes for three or four days. Now according to Mark 1525, the crucifixion occurred at nine in the morning. He'd been on the cross for three hours. He's in excruciating pain. Again, he's on a busy road. The people are passing by and they're beginning to mock him. Matthew 2739 says, those who passed by hurled insults at him, shaking their heads. Matthew 2744 says, in the same way the robbers who were crucified with him also heaped insults on him while impaled on the cross. Jesus could have done what was normally done. He could begin to curse. He could have begged. He could have shrieked. He could have even spit at his tormentors. He was in terrible pain surrounded by heartless evil people. But instead of doing that, instead of cursing and the other various things he could have done, he prayed. He prayed for the soldiers who were carrying out their duties. He prayed for those passing by, watching them die. He prayed for the men who were dying next to him. In verse 34 he said, Father forgive them. They don't know what they do. He didn't absolve them of their sin. He made it possible for it to be forgiven. Now as this is taking place, this fulfills something we see in Jesus' teaching in Matthew 1234 when he said out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks. And that revealed his mercy towards sinners, his desire for them and all of us to be saved. And his prayer reveals to us that God is willing to forgive our sins. I've spoken to people who have said I've sinned too much. There's no way God would forgive me of my sins. You don't know what kind of man I was I've heard before. You don't know. And I've shared with them, no I don't know and I probably don't want to know. But there is someone who does know and there's someone who will forgive you of your sin. No matter what it is. Ezekiel 3311, as I live, sayeth the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live. God's desire is to save. He didn't send his son to condemn, but that we might be saved through him. And so Jesus is there even on that cross and the thieves are there hearing him as he has a praise. Father, forgive them. They don't know what they do. Well as this is occurring, verse 34 tells us a soldier is casting lots for his clothing. Jesus had five articles of clothing. He had an inner tunic. He had a turban, sandals, robe. He had a belt. Each soldier got one article, but he had a seamless robe and that would have been a surplus. That again fulfilled the scripture. So in 2218 they part my garments among them and cast lots for my vesture. And so all of this is taking place. In verse 35 I'll read that people stood looking on, but even the rulers with them sneered saying he saved others, let him save himself. If he's the Christ, the chosen of God. The soldiers also mocked him coming and offering him sour wine saying if you're the king of the Jews, save yourself. And inscription also was written over him in letters of Greek, Latin, and Hebrew. This is the king of the Jews. One of the criminals who were hanged blasphemed him saying, if you are the Christ, save yourself and us. If you are the Christ, save yourself and us. Jesus didn't, did he? Jesus wouldn't. He would not save himself. Why? Because if he came down, they'd be doomed forever. As this is taking place, the other thief has a different reaction. It says in verses 40 and 41 the other answering rebuked him saying, do you not even fear God? Seeing you are under the same condemnation. We indeed justly, we received the due reward of our deeds that this man has done nothing wrong. Conviction and the fear of coming judgment was overwhelming him and then he says this, he says verse 42, Lord remember me when you come into your kingdom. Those words may not say much to you, but they say a lot to me. Remember me. Never forget me. There's no mention of anybody that was related to this thief no mention of them being there in any crowd, any audience watching. This man undoubtedly lived a very isolated life. He lived a life that probably was devoid of a mother and a dad that loved him and brothers and sisters that he could relate to, friends who would care about him. There's nobody there watching him die. It's interesting he was revolutionary. He wanted to bring the people of Israel to freedom by revolting against the Romans and yet there's nobody there mourning his death. There's nobody there remembering him. I think that one of the things that we need to remember always is within us there's a great desire to be remembered. Every one of us wants to do something in life to have someone in life who will remember us. I've talked to people who have have said that when they die they have said I don't want to die alone. I want somebody in there with me. That's just one of those things and here you have this man and he's saying Lord remember me, remember me, don't forget me. You see Jesus speaks and says I see into you today you will be with me in paradise. So this thief he's been there on that cross long enough and he's touched by what he sees taking place especially as he heard Christ when Jesus said Father forgive them they know not what they do it's never too late. God's plan of salvation unfolds while this man's hanging on the cross. He recognizes his own sin. That's why he asked the other man do you not fear God? He recognized Jesus and his innocence his own sinful guilt. He said we justly we receive the due reward for our deeds. He's aware of his sin and he confesses it he's saying I'm a sinful man. That's how we get saved by the way. Confessing and forsaking that sin and third he said Lord you recognize who Jesus is later Paul would say if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead you'll be saved for with the heart one believes into righteousness with the mouth confession is made into salvation and then he prays what we would call a sinner's prayer of confession he had heard Jesus say Father forgive them and he's simply saying would you apply that prayer to me remember me never let me escape your awareness Lord remember me forever and in remembering me I plead that you'll forgive me don't forget me remember the one who once hung by your side when he's saying that he's saying I've become one of your followers and I'm trusting you for salvation and what did Jesus say today you will be with me in paradise I won't forget you because today you'll be with me and I want to promise you something I'll never forget you briefly when I was a high schooler every high schooler I think probably goes through something similar 14 15 16 17 years old I was the guy that nobody knew I was the guy that nobody knew my name I had friends and they'd say oh hi Bill how you doing hey Jim how you doing see you later what's your name that was me I always felt like left out always felt that I'll never be the big man on campus I'll never have recognition I'll never have anything and so my way of dealing with that is I started doing things that got me noticed I started doing drugs I started doing the alcohol I started doing outrageous things I drew attention to myself quite often any attention's better than no attention some people would think I sure did I'll do something to make you remember me even if it's something that you don't like that was me and I finally got to the place where I was doing crazy things taking a lot of drugs taking a lot of chances going through friendships and relationships none of them lasting looking for looking for something that I had a desire for but couldn't name many of you understand what I'm trying to say is an emptiness that was so huge and I tried to fill it with so many things and nothing ever filled it nothing ever filled it until one day when my friends began sharing with me about Christ and I finally listened enough to go to hear a message and I ended up giving my heart to Christ and then that emptiness was filled it was filled because I knew that the Lord knew my name because Jesus said that he said that the sheep are called by the shepherd by name and for the first time and I was 20 years old for the first time it didn't matter if other people didn't know me because the one who knew me was the king of the universe and and that mattered that mattered and it changed my entire trajectory of life I changed into a completely new person and that's what the gospel does that's what Jesus Christ died on that cross for to take that sin upon himself and to give you something from him his righteousness and by washing you clean from your sin and pouring into you his presence by his spirit and instructing you through his word he transforms you into a person who's never alone never alone because that was my problem loneliness other people have different problems mine was loneliness I was alone a lot as a child and the loneliness was killing me and then Jesus said he would never leave me nobody ever forsake me and for the first time in my life at the age of 20 I came to realize that he would remember me too that thief on the cross who said remember me I've done that remember me as long as you know who I am that's all that matters that's all that matters if others know me that's great but if you know me that's everything it changes your life when you know you're loved and Jesus Christ loves you it does and he said it I won't forget you today you shall be with me I promise I'll never forget you Isaiah 49 15 can a mother forget the baby at her breast and have no compassion on the child she's born though she may forget I will not forget you Jesus didn't forget he never forgets our name if you're saved is in his book our tears are in his bottle he remembers us he cares for us he loves us and he carries us because he's our savior and he did that on that good Friday why is it good because the good Friday means that he died on that Friday so that I could be justified when he rose on that Sunday and Jesus Christ took upon himself our sin what he did then he can do today our father we