 And so as we gather now, we're looking at Luke chapter 23. Let's begin reading together at verse 39. I'll read to verse 43. And what we're looking at is one last chance, beginning at verse 39. Luke writes, then one of the criminals who were hanged blasphemed him saying, if you are 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. Then he said to Jesus, Lord, remember me when you come into your kingdom. Jesus said to him assuredly, I say to you today, you will be with me in paradise. Jesus has been condemned to death and the death that he was to suffer was the death of crucifixion. One of his trusted followers, Judas, had betrayed him. Judas had betrayed him into the hands of the Romans. And now as we are looking at this passage, we see that he had been sentenced to die by crucifixion. His ministry of healing and preaching and teaching had only lasted for three years, but during those three short years, he had ministered to many thousands of people and multitudes were following him and many had begun to trust in him as the Lord and their savior. Just the previous Sunday, people had lined the streets as he entered into the city of Jerusalem. There was excitement as he made his way in through his royal entrance into the city. Mark tells us in chapter 11 of his gospel verses eight through 10 that many spread their clothes on the road, others cut down leafy branches from the trees and spread them on the road. And those who went before and those who followed cried out saying, Hosanna, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Blessed is the kingdom of our Father David that comes in the name of the Lord. Blessed, blessed, blessed Hosanna, he said in the highest. But in the midst of all of this excitement stood a group of people that we know in scripture as the Pharisees. These were the religious leaders of Israel. And these had completely rejected Jesus Christ as well as his mission, they especially disliked the fact that Jesus actually spent time with sinners. You see the Pharisees, while the word Pharisee means separated one and the Pharisees really believe that if Jesus was truly a holy and sanctified man that he would not have anything to do with these sinners that he seemed to pal around with quite often. Matthew tells us it happened as Jesus sat at the table in the house, at behold many tax collectors and sinners came and sat down with him and his disciples. And when the Pharisees saw it, they said to his disciples, why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners? When Jesus heard that, he said to them, those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick, go and learn what this means. I desire mercy and not sacrifice, for I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. He had said in Luke 1910, the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost. So that was the ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ. He came to seek the lost. And it's interesting to note that Jesus saved his most scathing words to those who were religious leaders, he gave them names that wouldn't be popular to be used today concerning those who are religious leaders to him. And he said it well, they were hypocrites. He called them blind guides. He even called them fools and whitewashed tombs. He spoke of them as being serpents, even as a brood of vipers. Do you think that would go over well today? For somebody to stand up and refer to others in that way, even Christians today would take great offense that there was somebody who actually would refer to hypocrisy in such a form. But Jesus didn't put up with that. He had said concerning them in Matthew 23, verse five, all the works they do to be seen by a man. He had said in Matthew 23, verse 28, he said, you also outwardly appear righteous to men, but inside you are full of hypocrisy, lawlessness. He had said in chapter 15 of Matthew, verses seven and eight, hypocrites, well did Isaiah prophesy about you saying these people draw near to me with their mouth and honor me with their lips, but their heart is far from me. You see what had happened is they had developed a religious system that excluded the mercy of God. They had a religious system intended to create an ideal person, but eventually it had been something that would be achieved really by human effort. And it was very demanding, as a matter of fact, when you become a legalist, the more demanding the better. Because if the outer goal is achieved, you can get glory. But we know that Jesus came to teach us that rules and regulations do not change nature. Rules and regulations may modify the way that you live, your outward behavior, but Jesus taught that it wasn't enough to be changed on the outside. We know this. Jesus taught that you need to be changed from the inside. He used the word born again. You need to receive a new nature. And the way that you receive this new nature is not by doing the very best that you can to be the best that you are, but rather that you just recognize that you can't make it and you deposit faith in him. And when you do that, then the promise you find in the Old Testament, book of Ezekiel, chapter 36 verse 26, becomes real. Because there God said, I'll give you a new heart, put a new spirit within you. I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. It's what Paul would say if any man is in Christ, he's a new creation, old things are passed away. And behold, all things are become new. So Jesus Christ had come and as he had come and taught and worked, he had made various statements and various claims, but the most outrageous claim at least to the Pharisees was that he said that he was the only way to get to God and he was the only way to enter into heaven. Now he had said that I am the way, the truth and the life. No man comes to the Father, but by me. When Jesus made that statement, the religious leaders just could not get over it. That was beyond anything that they could receive. But that's what he taught. When Jesus was speaking on one occasion, it's recorded in Matthew chapter 11 verses 28 through 30. Jesus gave an invitation, there he had said, come unto me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart and you will find a rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, my burden is light. So Jesus gave an invitation for the people to get away from the yoke of the law and come to him and receive rest through his grace and the business of their lives and the frustrating activity that they called life. Jesus actually promised something they did not have. He promised them rest and that's something that we can understand today in this anxiety, stress-filled world that we live in. In the book of Ecclesiastes, the writer says, what does a man get for all the toil and anxious striving with which he labors under the sun? All his days his work is pain and grief. Even at night his mind does not rest. This too is meaningless. So Jesus gave an invitation. He gave the invitation for man to come to him, receive forgiveness of sins and to enter into rest. And that was an invitation that was open then, it's open today. It's open to anybody who is willing to come to him. Acts 10 tells us in verse 43 to him, give all the prophets witness that through his name, whoever believes in him shall receive remission of sins. So Jesus gave an invitation, an invitation that the Pharisees rejected. An invitation that simply said, if you labor and if you're heavy laden, I'm giving you an invitation for rest. If you labor, which speaks of being utterly exhausted from work, if you're heavy laden, if you're carrying a great weight, he says, come to me. All you who are heavy burdened, come to me. Especially this would apply to those who are heavily burdened by their sin. His invitation is to come and rest. Rest from your labor, rest from your long journey. When you come to Christ, you'll be revived and you'll receive a settled peace in him. Take my yoke upon you, learn from me. I'll set you free from the burdens of your life. Well that angered the religious authorities. They continually rejected him and they rejected his message. And they especially desired his death because he made a statement to them that they just could not receive. He had actually said that he was the son of God. And when they had brought this accusation to make sure that he was put to death, they had clearly said to Pilate, according to John 19, verse seven, according to our law, he ought to die because he made himself the son of God. So the charge they brought was religious, but it wasn't sufficient for him to receive capital punishment. Ultimately what they did is they charged him with sedition in order that Rome could put him to death as an opponent to the system of Rome. Now as this is taking place, notice in verse 32, that the scripture says there were also two others. Criminals led with him to be put to death. And so we see that Jesus Christ, when he died on that cross, did not die alone. He died as scripture says between two criminals. Mark tells us they crucified two robbers with him. One on his right and one on his left. They were robbers. The word robber there speaks of one who was violent, capable of murder. So they placed the Lord Jesus Christ between two thieves. And as they did so, they were simply saying Jesus is a criminal amongst criminals. Now according to verse 33, they came to a place called Calvary. And there the scripture says they crucified him. Now crucifixion was a Roman method of capital punishment. The Jews when they enacted capital punishment normally enacted death by stoning. But the Romans had taken an ancient method of torture and had actually refined it. Long in the history, long past in history, there were a group of people called the Assyrians. The Assyrians were known for their violence. They were known for the evil way they treated prisoners. And one of the things that Assyrians would do is they would take prisoners to a sharpened post. So picture if you will a pencil that has been sharpened and picture that pencil being placed into the ground so that is pointing towards the sky with a very sharp point. And two very strong soldiers would pick up the one who was about to be executed and they would plunge this person impaling them on this post and leave them until through the pull of gravity, the point of that post would ultimately pierce through their abdomen and enter into their heart. And so slowly and agonizingly they would die through the pull of gravity. Romans had taken that kind of methodology and actually refined it because people who were crucified according to the Roman methodology could actually remain on that torture device on that cross for several days. What they would do is they would impale the wrist with spikes. The legs of the prisoner would be twisted beneath them into the form of an S. Then they would nail their ankles into the post. They would be placed on a sharpened iron saddle peg. The cross was made up of two pieces of rough wood, the post and cross beam. So the crucified person was either nailed to the cross beam while on the ground or raised by cords to the cross beam nailed to it through the wrist. The cross itself was usually twice the height of men. And they would place them there. And as they did so, their shoulders would be dislocated. They began to endure dehydration. There would be a congestion of blood in their head, lungs and heart. And depending on how strong that victim was, they could remain on that cross sometimes for several days. You have to picture the Lord Jesus Christ who had already gone through scourging. His head had already been pierced with a crown of thorns. His back had already been lacerated by the beating that he received through his scourging. He had already suffered through blood loss. He was already going through shock and he already was suffering with dehydration. And as he's placed on this cross, what he would do is he would lift himself up. And the pain that he would endure, you see the spikes were placed through bones in the wrist. He didn't break the bones, they could actually pierce through the bones. And he would lift himself up in order to draw air. And as he drew air to breathe, the pain that he'd go through doing that would have been amazing. Then he would release himself while that sharp saddle peg would dig into the laceration of his back every time he raised himself up, every time he took a breath, that saddle peg in the back of Jesus would dig a new furrow into him. And ultimately, that's how you would die. You would suffocate. Your lungs would be pressed by your rib cage where you could no longer take another breath. You would settle into it and through the shock, blood loss, dehydration and all combined, your strength is now gone. Your legs are cramping underneath you so that you can't even strengthen yourself to get another inch higher. You finally settle into that. Your lungs are eventually compressed and you die a slow agonizing death of suffocation. In the midst of all of this, we need to remember that Jesus died voluntarily. It wasn't the nails that kept Jesus on the cross. It was his love for us. God so loved the world. God demonstrated his love toward us and that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Isaiah, the prophet in the book of Isaiah chapter 53 verse 12 says, it pleased the Lord to bruise him. He has put him to grief. When you make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed. He shall prolong his days and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand. Well, the crucifixion occurred at nine in the morning according to Mark 1525, but by now Jesus is in mind-numbing, excruciating pain. He could have done what others did during that time. They would curse, they would beg, they would shriek. If they could, they would even spit at those who tormented them, but instead of lashing out, the Bible tells us that he prayed in verse 34. He said, Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do. That revealed the mercy of Christ towards sinners. That reveals his desire for them to be saved. Like it says in Ezekiel 3311, as I live, says 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 for us to come to faith in Christ. His desire is for us to be saved. That's why he sent his son to die in a cross. So that we might have life with him, that our sins that put him on the cross might be washed by the blood that was poured out while on that cross. Well, the people are watching all of this. There are soldiers gambling for his clothing. They're beginning to cry out to him, save yourself, looking out for themselves. But as all of this is taking place, as we noted when we read verses 39 through 43, there were two men who were also crucified next to him. Two thieves. Now in verse 39, it says one of the criminals who were hanged blasphemed him saying, if you are the Christ, save yourself and us. And so you can picture Jesus there in the midst of these two and one of them is turning to him and is yelling at him, even as Jesus is there dying in the center, dying for him. And the man can't take it and he's going through pain and he yells at, and he says, let us off this cross. If you're the Christ, save yourself and save us. And as he speaks, he's simply saying this, I have no fear of God. I have no sorrow. I have no repentance for my life. I have no sense that I deserve this punishment. I am a sin hardened man and I just want to live. I just want to get off of this cross. Get me off this cross. If you really were who you say you are, then do what I want so that I can continue in the life that I want to live. And that's how a lot of people are, by the way, a little bit of religion, a little bit of quote unquote faith, a little bit of questioning God. And they immediately think that if they have a little bit of that, perhaps they can continue in the life that they're already living and not have to suffer the consequences of a life that was not well lived. But as that's taken place, and you can imagine that in your mind's eye for just a moment as he's there and he's straining and he's straining and looking at the Lord and he's speaking in this way to him, there's somebody else who's there. There's another thief that is there and he speaks, the other answers rebuked him saying, do you not even fear God seeing you are under the same condemnation? And we indeed justly, we received the due reward for our deeds. This man has done nothing wrong. The other man spoke in a different way. The other man spoke in awareness of what he was. His conscience had been provoked and he actually turns and rebukes the thief. Wake up, he's saying, you're about to enter into eternity and you're not even concerned. Now this man obviously believed that the soul lives on after death and he was concerned about that. Ecclesiastes 321 says, who knows the spirit of the sons of men which goes upward, the spirit of the animal which goes down to the earth. In Ecclesiastes 12, 7, it says, the dust will return to the earth as it was and the spirit will return to God who gave it. So while one is rejecting, the other one's being touched because it's just never too late. The plan of salvation begins when he falls right in front of us. He recognizes his own sin. How do we know that? Well, he asks the question, do you not fear God? The Bible says the fear of God is the beginning of knowledge. The second thing we see in him is he recognized the innocence of Jesus Christ. He said, we are dying justly but this man has done no wrong. So that reveals to us that he is aware that he is guilty. He's guilty of sin. Then he recognized Jesus as a king and he prayed even what we might call a sinner's prayer when he said remember me when you enter into your kingdom. In other words, forgive me. Grant me mercy. That's how you get saved. It's when you stop arguing with God. It's when you stop making excuses to God and it's when you finally say to God, be merciful to me. I am a sinner. It's when you finally say Lord, you didn't have to die for me but you chose to. I'm the one who put you on the cross. You died for me, not for your own sins. You died for the sin of the world. You're the Lamb of God. It takes away the sin of the world. You did nothing wrong. See, that's the heart of Christianity. We have a God of love, a God who teaches us to love others. We were in Israel just recently. We just returned and we were on an area in Jerusalem that is called the Temple Mount and we had our group up there and we're having a place of Bible study and all it's interesting because the Temple Mount there in the city of Jerusalem, well that Temple Mount has been handed over to in terms of the right to perform religious services and all. It's been basically through Israel been handed to the Muslim population so the Muslim population goes up there and they have the Dome of the Rock and they have, to them it's a holy sign. And so we went up and we can't bring Bibles up there. They don't allow us to bring our Bibles. They don't want us to be showing any affection to one another of any sort. A husband and a wife cannot hold hands. You can't climb on any of the rocks if you wanted to take a picture. They won't allow you to step on any of the fences or to be elevated in any way. You have to just walk through and all and it's a very controlled environment and as we were there we saw these young Muslim children who were there and they were being led by their teachers and I'm talking about kids six years old, seven years old, five years old, eight years old, small children. And they had them all walking in a single file line as they were walking towards a particular area and as these small babies. And I'm talking about five year olds and six years old and you know how beautiful they are at that age. Something happens when they're 13 but that's another sermon. But as they were walking towards us, they were looking at us and they marched past us at the provocation of their teacher. And with anger, I got a picture or two of this with angry faces and you have to picture this. Beautiful little baby. The little girls looking straight at us as they went back with their teeth gritted were yelling out Allah Akbar and Muhammad is his prophet. God is great and Muhammad is his prophet. And they were screaming at him and one of the ladies would say something and then they would chant behind her. They would say something, they would shout and every one of those children were facing these, in their mind, these American Christian infidels and they were screaming at the top of their lungs. God is great and Muhammad is his prophet. And our people who are so used to seeing sweet children who here in the church who are being taught and love Jesus, many of them just were like shocked. And so we're up in that temple mount and we go to an area that's called the Doma, the tablet or the Doma, the spirit. And when you go up in this particular area off to your south is the Doma, the rock. Just north of that would be what is called the Doma, the spirit. We have a Bible study. They don't allow us to open up our Bibles because they believe that the Bible is an inferior book and that Jews are Satan and Christians are the great Satan and they don't want our Bibles to be read there on this particular site that they consider so holy but I normally bring it out anyway. I didn't this time but from memory I just shared with them. Listen, when you're standing here and you're looking to the east, you see what is called the Eastern Gate. It lines up here with the Doma, the tablet, the Doma, the spirit. When you read Revelation chapter 11 verses one and two, it speaks concerning the fact that the antichrist is going to sign a covenant and in that covenant it speaks concerning marking off a portion and dedicating that to the Gentiles. And there are those, Pastor Chuck was one and archeologist by the name of Asher Kaufman who have pointed out that the Doma, the spirit of the Doma, the tablets is actually on a higher elevation than the rest of the earth which means that this area that we're standing on is more than likely the site of the original Holy of Holies. And when you stand looking towards the gate there you can't see it now but if you were to walk up to it and look down you would see that that's where the Eastern Gate is. So the Eastern Gate is actually lining up with the Doma, the spirit. So what's going to happen? What's going to happen is the Doma of the Rock is more than likely going to be ceded to Islam so that Islam can continue what they're doing through the treaty that will be established by antichrist and Israel will once again be able to build the temple here. Why? Because Jesus says in the last days when you see the abomination of desolation spoken of by Daniel standing in the temple, I say unto you, I said, so when you read your New Testament the temple has to be rebuilt. How's that going to happen? When you see these children so angry and so filled with hate for what they believe is a false religion how is it going to happen? Through that one whom the world will say who can make war with the beast? Who is like him? He will set up that. So all of these angry kids and all of that I said what you're looking at is moving towards prophecy and my wife pointed out right she said as I'm watching these children it reminds me of the films that I have seen on Hitler Youth. The Hitler Youth. That would scream and they would make their sign of loyalty to Hitler by raising their hands in the way that the Nazis used to salute. It's the same spirit, a spirit that hates the Jew and wants to obliterate them and a spirit that hates the church of Jesus Christ. And so we can get here in these last days saying what are we going to do? Victory has been won. Victory has been won. You can be like that one thief who says get me out of here I don't really need you I just want to stay alive or you can be like the other thief who says I have sinned I am wrong I confess remember me when you enter into your kingdom. And so we celebrate Good Friday because our God is good and what our God has done is he has given us his son and we by his grace can be saved through faith not by our works but by his goodness and mercy to us. That's why somebody asked me why do you call it good Friday it's good because God did something about my sin on that Friday he sent his son Jesus to die on the cross he died on a Friday but he rose on Sunday and I can live because of him. That's how it works. And so we have an opportunity even today as we commemorate the reality of what Jesus did to identify which one am I? Am I the thief who said I want to stay the same? Or am I like that thief who said remember me? It's up to us. I chose many years ago to identify with the one who said Lord remember me when you enter your kingdom and Jesus said today you shall be with me in paradise. I'll save you one last chance.