[0:00] I shall turn now and with God shall consider words in the chapter that we have read. The Gospel according to Luke, chapter 23, reading at verse 39.
[0:21] Luke, chapter 23, verse 39. And one of the malefactors which were hanged reared on him, saying, If thou be Christ saved thyself and us, but the other answering rebuked him, saying, Does not thou fear God, seeing thou art in the same condemnation?
[0:43] And we indeed trust thee, for we receive the due reward of our deeds. But this man hath done nothing amiss. And he said unto Jesus, Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom.
[1:00] And Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, Today shalt thou be with me in paradise. And so on. In those words we have two thoughts.
[1:23] A sinner and his savior. And first of all we can consider something of the passion and the work of the savior.
[1:40] The Lord Jesus Christ who came into the world to save, to prepare us for eternity.
[1:55] And we must first of all realize that the Bible is the word of God adapted to our need as sinners.
[2:13] It does not tell us everything that perhaps we want to know concerning this present life, concerning creation, and so on.
[2:30] But it gives us all the information that we require to prepare us for our eternal destiny.
[2:47] After we leave this world. And the Bible should be looked upon, therefore, as a special revelation that God is pleased to give to us, in order to teach us regarding himself and ourselves.
[3:08] First of all, we need to know where the Savior has come from.
[3:22] Why did he come? And scripture teaches us that all is the result of an act of the will of our creator.
[3:40] Even love as a law, a principle, is an act of the will of God.
[3:56] He was under no obligation to love any outside of himself. For scripture teaches us that he is perfect.
[4:11] He does not require anything to be added to his essence in order to add to his glory. We cannot touch that essence.
[4:26] We cannot change it in any way. This is God's essential glory that he will give to no other.
[4:38] And it was therefore a necessary form to create. But he made us. And after he made us, when we have sinned against him, our maker, he was under no obligation to save us as sinners.
[5:05] Now there is something in scripture that we must try to understand. Perhaps it's better to say to believe rather than to understand.
[5:17] And that is that God, our maker, has foreordained all that comes to pass on this earth and in eternity.
[5:36] That is the direct result of his will toward us. He has foreordained. Now the question is this.
[5:49] Where then does sin enter the picture? Sin that fills this world with death, sorrow, and all the troubles that afflict us.
[6:10] And remember that death comes from God. Just as life comes from God, death comes from God.
[6:29] And the death that comes from God is retribution. Penalty for sin.
[6:42] He is not the author of sin. But he permits sin. Sin is an act of the permissive decree of our God, of our maker.
[7:02] He has foreordained all that comes to pass. Remember, he is not the author of sin. He cannot be.
[7:14] Sin is an act of sin. For eternal holiness. It forbids sin. God cannot sin.
[7:25] He is a sin-hating God. But for his own glory, he permits sin. And there are wise and good reasons why this should be so.
[7:38] We are not permitted to know at this time what those reasons are. It is sufficient to believe that he has foreordained all that comes to pass.
[7:55] And this is the wonder. When we had sinned and brought death and condemnation into our experience.
[8:09] That God determined to save us. And to save us in this wonderful, wondrous way.
[8:23] That reveals not only his love and his mercy. But also his wisdom. You remember what wisdom is.
[8:35] Wisdom is to make a right use of knowledge. To make the right use of the knowledge that we have.
[8:46] There are many very intelligent fools who misuse the knowledge that God has given them.
[8:57] But here we are taught the wisdom. The right use of God's knowledge. Who knows all. And we think of the enemy of our souls.
[9:13] Satan. Who is the means to take sin into our experience. That very able creature. All the angels.
[9:28] Are able. And they have ability that we. And qualities that we do not have. They are above us. Here on earth.
[9:40] In the order of creation. In eternity. That order will be reversed. But here on earth. In the order of creation.
[9:51] The angels. The angels. Are superior. Superior. To us. And we see that. Satan. For all his enmity. For all his ability.
[10:03] And knowledge. That he is defeated. By his making. He was foolish enough.
[10:14] To test. The wisdom of God. The mercy. And the love of God. And he failed. Now.
[10:25] Just in a word. We will see. Something of what happened. And the reason for our sin. Satan tempted. And after.
[10:38] Man fell. Satan turned. To God. God. Now. Now. You have said. The wages.
[10:52] Of sin. Is death. The day. The wages. That of. Thou shalt. Surely die. That is written.
[11:04] That is something. That cannot be changed. It is. God's word. It is God's will. To orders. Now.
[11:15] You must. Destroy. Adam and Eve. And then. We have. Another law.
[11:27] Revealed. The law. Of substitution. The law of substitution. And the law of substitution. Overcame.
[11:39] The first one. Perhaps I should use the word. Glorified. Fulfilled. The first one. And this is how it was done.
[11:51] That the God. Who said. So that sin. Shall surely die. Substituted. Himself.
[12:01] For the one. Who was to die. And that is. Wisdom. And that is.
[12:12] Love. And that is. Mercy. The doctrine. Of substitution. One. In the room. Instead. Of another.
[12:23] This has never entered. The heart of Satan. The heart of his enemies. That God. Is so wise. As to do this. And.
[12:35] The person. Of the Godhead. Who died. First of all. To himself. Our nature. To live on this earth. Is the second person.
[12:47] The son. And the son. Did something. That the father. Did not do. Nor the holy spirit. Something unique. To himself.
[12:58] In all. Other acts. Of the trinity. In salvation. The trinity. Is active. Except in this one act.
[13:09] And that one act. Is this. To assume. Our nature. He took it. To himself. A unique act. Of his person.
[13:20] In order. That he might come. Into the world. To seek. And. To save.
[13:32] That. Which was. Lost. And. We might think of. The coming of the saviour. In the words of.
[13:42] The prophet Isaiah. Chapter 9. Verse 6. For unto us. A child is born. Unto us. A son.
[13:54] Is given. Now we see. What those words. Teach us. Not a son is born. You see. How careful. Script. It is.
[14:05] In speaking of. The work of God. Unto us. A child. Is born. The child. Born. Is the son.
[14:18] Given. This is something. That. We must. Accept. Think of a person. Who exists. Without a body.
[14:30] Without a soul. God. Is spirit. Infinite. Eternal. Unchangeable. Those are his.
[14:41] Incommunicable. Attributes. This is glory. For the sinner. In order that he might bear. The wrath. And curse. Of the trinity.
[14:52] His own. Wrath. Remember. His own wrath. The wrath. Of the father. The wrath. Of the holy spirit. Again. Sin. As a sin.
[15:03] Sin. In God. Christ. Has come. Into the world. To that end. The savior. Of sinners.
[15:16] And again. We see. What is said. Of the savior. He is. Anointed. He is anointed. This was taught.
[15:29] In the old testament. And it is. Explained. In the new testament. What this means.
[15:40] What this means. When God. Wished to teach. Concerning. The coming. Of the savior. He wanted.
[15:50] Israel. Israel. To know. That there were. Three officials. Who were to be. Anointed. With a special oil. That could not. Be used. For any other purpose.
[16:02] But. For that. Which. It was given. And those. Three are. Prophets. Priests. And kings. Those three officers.
[16:16] Those three officials. Were anointed. With a special oil. And God. Showed. That by the anointed. By this anointing.
[16:26] They were his. They belonged to him. In a special way. He claimed them. For himself. And those.
[16:39] Three. They are brought to one. In the person. Of Christ. He. Is the anointed. Prophet.
[16:50] And the anointed. Priest. And the anointed. King. The three officers. Meeted him. In his person. And the anointed. Means that.
[17:01] He was claimed. By God. God. Said. And says. This is my. This is my. Substitute. This is my.
[17:12] Sacrifice. He is. Separated. For me. And. The anointed. Signified.
[17:24] The Holy Spirit. In his person. And in his work. And what does. And what does Jesus say. That the spirit. Has been given unto him.
[17:35] Without measure. Therefore. We believe that. All his thoughts. Were done under the influence. Of the Holy Spirit.
[17:46] From this anointed. Anointed. All his deeds. All his words. They were done. Under the influence.
[17:57] Of the Holy Spirit. He was given. The Holy Spirit. Without measure. In order to fulfill. The end. Of his coming.
[18:08] As the substitute. For sinners. Now what does that mean. For us. It means. In a word. That he is perfect. When he took.
[18:21] His substance. From his mother. The anointed. Acted. To separate him. From sin. He is without sin.
[18:33] He is filled. With the Holy Spirit. He is led. By the Holy Spirit. A perfect. Savior. A perfect.
[18:44] Human being. Who bears. The loveliness. The beauty. Of God.
[18:55] Revealed. In the flesh. God. The loveliness. Of incarnation. God. Revealed. In the flesh.
[19:07] That is. The revelation. That we have. Of his person. Now how did. Sinners. Dealing with him.
[19:17] How did they. When they saw him. What did they think of him. How did they act towards him. Well when we see. The revelation.
[19:28] Of scripture. This is what it teaches us. He came. On to his own. And his own. Received.
[19:40] Him not. They received him not. And. They said. We will not have this man. To rule over us.
[19:51] Now men say. They teach us. There is some good in man. That man. All that man requires. To attain. To perfection.
[20:02] Is education. Teaching. And so on. That man has this. In a. In a. In a. In a. In a. In a. In a. In a. To attain.
[20:13] To perfection. Himself. Well. This is the result. Of the goodness. That is in man. It is. Falling.
[20:24] To teach. To think. That there is. Any good thing in us. Here is a. A bee. Who alone is good. And when he was revealed.
[20:35] Did we acknowledge his goodness. We rejected him. And we. Crucified him. Now there is something else. Taught. The offices.
[20:47] That God. Gave him. For our. Salvation. They were the three. Prophet. Placed. King. And when we look at scripture.
[20:59] We see that. Jesus. Was. Marked. In those. Three offices. In all those offices.
[21:11] Distinct. Separate. He was marked. He was marked. As a priest. He saved others. Who is this that says. That he saved others.
[21:22] He cannot even save himself. He is marked as a king. Crowned with thorns. Clad. In a purple robe. A red.
[21:33] Placed in his hand. They mocked him. Hail king of the Jews. He is mocked as a prophet. Blindfolded.
[21:45] Struck. Who. Prophesied. Who is smoking. This is taught.
[21:55] In the other gospels. Instead of accepting. Our lord. The substitute for sinners. They rejected him.
[22:08] And this shows. The evil. Of our hearts. And remember. I am no better. You are no better. Than those Jews.
[22:21] Who refuse. To acknowledge. God. Revealed. In the flesh. Now just in our word. He is led.
[22:34] To the cross. And. We can think of him. From this point of view. As the substitute. Made. A curse. You know.
[22:45] What I. You know. What this teaches. It's a curse. One who is cursed. One who is. Separated. He is separated. I think that is.
[22:56] A good word. To describe. What a curse is. Separated. From our fellows. Suffering. Because of this.
[23:06] Separation. But in the old testament. And you know. We should study. The ceremonial law. As it's revealed. In Exodus.
[23:17] And Leviticus. Because. There. We learn. Of a suffering. Saviour. And what it is.
[23:27] To be cursed. On the great day. Of atonement. The high priest. Of Israel. Brought. A young. Bólag. Without blemish. And you remember.
[23:39] What he did. He placed. His hands. Upon the head. Of the Bólag. The Sön of Afri. And he confessed. His own sin.
[23:50] And he confessed. The Sön of Osir. And he pressed. His hands. Upon the head. Of the young. Bólag. And then he took.
[24:01] The young. Bólag. Outside. Outside. The camp. Of Israel. And there. The bullock. Put to death.
[24:12] Slain. Burnt. It is. A curse. It is cursed. It is. It must be born. Outside.
[24:22] The camp. That is fulfilled. In the New Testament. Jesus. A curse. A substitute.
[24:35] Jesus. Led. Outside. The camp. Outside. Jerusalem. To get. Gethsemane. To Calvary.
[24:46] There. To be crucified. For our sin. Now just in our word. The church. Have taught us. This sequence.
[24:57] Of events. The cross. Is the instrument. Of the curse. The cross.
[25:08] Is the instrument. The means. By which. The curse. Is revealed. In the person. Of Christ. And.
[25:19] The. Essence. Of the curse. Is the darkness. Between. The sixth hour. And the ninth hour.
[25:30] The curse. The curse. The curse. That is. It says. What it is. To be cursed. Our Lord. Is in the darkness. And a transaction.
[25:43] Is taking place. In the darkness. Upon the cross. Between our substitute. And. The church. Of all the earth.
[25:55] And. This is a transaction. He is cursed. He is. Made sin. For us. He is the sin bearer.
[26:07] And. The expression. Again. Of the curse. He cries. My God. My God.
[26:18] Why has thou. Forsaken me. It is a real forsaking. In the experience. Of our Lord. What does this mean?
[26:29] It means. It means. That God. Separates. From. The expression.
[26:41] Of the curse. He is alone. He is separated. From. God. And that is. The relevance of the cry.
[26:52] The reason for the cry. Why. Why. Why. My God. My God. My God. Why. Why. Why. Hast. Thou. Forsaken me.
[27:04] Now. Here is the mystery. Of the passion. God. Cannot forsake himself. That is an impossibility.
[27:15] For. God. God. Cannot die. Yet. God. Died. The human nature of our Lord died.
[27:29] And it is right to say. That God died. It is right also to say. Consistently. With that statement. That God.
[27:40] Cannot die. Now. How is this to be explained. That we attribute. To our nature. This is the definition. Of the theologians. That we attribute to our nature.
[27:51] We must attribute. To the person. What is true of the nature. On the cross. He is suffering. What is true of the nature. On the cross.
[28:03] He dies. Soul and body are separated. Yet. He lives. But we think that. Returning again.
[28:15] To the. Great day of atonement. What took place on that day. Regarding the two gods. You remember. The two gods. Were brought to the high priest.
[28:27] One of them. Was put to death. After the ritual of confession. It was put to death.
[28:38] But the other. Was kept alive. And led. By the hand of a fit man. And that is also important. The hand of a fit man.
[28:51] Into the wilderness. Where never. The fruit of man. Was. What does this teach you.
[29:03] It teaches us. Of death. And the life. That cannot die. Of death.
[29:14] And the life. That cannot die. That is the mystery. Of the person. Of our Lord. He died. Body and soul.
[29:25] Separated. Yet. Body and soul. Kept. By the power. Of the person. Of the son of God.
[29:36] Now. I think. Perhaps. I mentioned this before. Sometime. Regarding. What took place.
[29:49] On Calvary. One of the great. Teachers. Of the church. Used. This illustration. A soldier. With a sword.
[30:01] And a scabbard. The soldier. In long hand. Has the sword. In the other hand. He has the scabbard. The sheath. And.
[30:12] When. The sword. Perhaps. I should say. Explain. First of all. What that means. The sword. Is. The sword.
[30:22] Of our Lord. The sheath. Is. The body. Of our Lord. When the soldier. Places.
[30:34] The sword. And the sheath. He is holding. He is holding. Body and soul. The soldier. The Christ. The eternal son of God.
[30:47] I should say. The word. The eternal word. Holding. Sword. And scabbard. Separated in death.
[30:59] The soldier. The soldier. The soldier. Is still holding. The sword. And the sheath. And this.
[31:10] I think. Teaches something. Of. Or it casts some light. Upon our most. Profound. Part. Of the word of God. That.
[31:22] In life. And in death. God. In the person of his son. Is in control. He holds.
[31:34] His life. As he holds. His death. In his hand. Everything. Is in his hand. This must be so. Perhaps I should have mentioned.
[31:45] Something else. At the very outset. When. Jesus. At the gate. Of Gethsemane. Surrendered.
[31:56] Remember. It was surrender. Not capture. Surrendered. It must be surrender. He must. Give himself. He must.
[32:08] Well entirely. Give himself. To his enemies. How often do we read. He passed. Out of the midst of them. They couldn't lay hold on him. Till the time had come.
[32:19] When the time came. He surrendered. He placed himself. He is in control. He is in control. In life. He is in control.
[32:29] In death. He is the author. He is the savior. In the darkness. As in the light. He is the savior. Offering himself.
[32:41] Bearing no sin. Made a curse. For us. The perfect savior. Of sinners. It is finished.
[32:54] The fulfillment. The exhaustion. Of the curse. It is finished. I believe.
[33:06] The cross. The cross. Is the most important. Part. Of the word of God. Even on.
[33:18] The mount of transfiguration. Transfiguration. They spoke. Of the exodus. That is the Greek word. That they used there. Of his exodus.
[33:30] The way he was to exit. Out of time. Into eternity. Through the cross. They spoke.
[33:41] Of his death. To be fulfilled. Outside. The gates. Of Jerusalem. And here we have.
[33:52] A sinner. And he sees. A savior. And it is written of him. The other gospels tell us.
[34:02] Matthew and John. They tell us. How both thieves. Cursed. The Lord. They were both together. In this. And then a marvelous.
[34:14] Change. Took place. On the cross. When I said. This is the thief's Bible. Jesus of Nazareth.
[34:25] The king. Of the Jews. This is his Bible. This is what he knows. And he sees. As someone has said again. The loveliness.
[34:37] Of the person. Who was crucified. In a split second. A change has taken place. A miraculous change. He blasphemed him.
[34:50] How many. Have followed his example. Throughout life. Who among us. Can say. In truth. That we have never blasphemed.
[35:01] Of the Lord of glory. This man. This man. Did so. And he is one. Who is. Who is a sinner. Not only in God's sight.
[35:13] But in man's sight. He has broken man's law. He is a criminal. That is why. He is crucified. And he is. Died.
[35:24] He is dying. Well. This is true. Of you and I. We have sinned. We are sinners. And we are dying.
[35:38] All of us. You know there is. We can even use this word. There is a madness. In our society.
[35:50] It grips all of us. It is deceit. We are deceived. And this is what deceives us.
[36:05] In our reason. We believe that we are dying. All of us. Our reason tells us. We look around about us. We see. We have evidence. Every day of death.
[36:18] But in practice. In practice. We do not believe it. There is something in us. That refuses to accept.
[36:31] That we are dying. We are told. Sometimes. A person is told. That he is terminally ill.
[36:42] He doesn't have long to go. The person who tells him this. Perhaps thinks. Well. I am not going to die. You are going to die.
[36:55] Well the truth is. That all of us are terminal. There is no one. Who can say. That he is not terminal.
[37:06] All of us are dying. And the sooner we realize this. The better. Face the fact. Prepare. Prepare. For eternity. For eternity. All of us.
[37:18] Must die. And all of us. Must meet our making. This is what he teaches. Here is the experience of.
[37:29] One. Who was not prepared. By nature to meet his maker. He was cursed. As a sinner. But he saw. He saw.
[37:39] The substitute. And he believed. Now remember. What the soul. Saving. Act is. There is none other.
[37:52] The soul. Saving. Act. Is to believe. To have faith. And it is. The gift. Of the most high. Faith.
[38:03] Cometh by hearing. Hearing. Hearing by the word of God. That is why we teach. We try to teach ourselves. And others. That we might. Have faith.
[38:13] That we might receive faith. And that we might. Exercise. The faith. That we receive. This is the end.
[38:24] Of our meeting together. Sabbath after Sabbath. That is why. We read our Bibles. In order that we might. Receive this gift. Of faith.
[38:35] That comes. Through hearing. And hearing. By the word of God. And. I should mention this also. It is.
[38:47] God's gift. It is given. By God. And it is an act. Of creative power. Ephesians.
[38:58] Read the first chapter. Of the epistle. To the Ephesians. And it teaches us. That only an act. Of the mighty power. Of God.
[39:09] Can enable us. To believe. To trust. In Christ. It is. Receiving.
[39:21] And. It is. Resting. Upon. Him alone. For salvation. For salvation. This is what the thief did. And we see.
[39:33] The result. Of his faith. He acknowledged. Christ. He. Confessed.
[39:44] Christ. He professed. Christ. Christ. When all the others. Have forsaken him. Now. You see how. What this reason would say.
[39:56] And what faith said. What would reason say? Reason would say. Concerning. Christ. Reason would say. Here is a dying man.
[40:08] He is. In the same position. As you are. How can he save you? He is dying. This is what reason says. What does faith say?
[40:21] Here is. A savior. Reason says. He has nothing. He has been forsaken. By the disciples. Faith says.
[40:32] He is mourning. A kingdom. By his death. That is what faith says. The faith of the thief. Looks beyond. And above.
[40:44] Perhaps I should just say. Looks above reason. And trusts in. The revelation. That Christ has given.
[40:55] Of himself. In his word. Trusting. In him. And. He sees that. Jesus is. Coming.
[41:07] Again. In his kingdom. Now the kingdom. Is the rule. The reign. Of the Lord Jesus Christ.
[41:18] All is subject. To him. That is. One definition. Of his kingdom. He is reigning. Faith. Seizing.
[41:30] Winning. A kingdom. As the substitute. To remove the curse. The guilt. And power. Of sin. Faith. Seize. All this.
[41:40] Trust. Trust. In him. In order. That you also. Might see. What he saw.
[41:53] It is. God's revelation. And to know that. Everyone who has faith. Has received. The exact same knowledge.
[42:04] It is. A revelation. Of the person. Of the person. Of the work. Of the Lord Jesus Christ. Remember me.
[42:16] He prayed also. Another result of faith. He does not ask. For great things. All he asks for is. Remember me.
[42:29] That is. Here. Humility. The humility. Of faith. And there is also. The repentance.
[42:39] Of faith. And the conviction. Of faith. The repentance. We are guilty. He rebukes.
[42:50] His fellow sinner. We are guilty. It takes. A great deal. To confess. That we are guilty. Before God. We will.
[43:01] We will say. That every other individual. Is guilty. Or we will. Find an excuse. For our gift.
[43:13] But faith. Though. Are. The man. We are guilty. Before God. The thief. By faith. Believed.
[43:25] And acknowledged. That he was guilty. Faith. Professed. The law. This man. Has done nothing.
[43:37] Amiss. Just in a few words. That is something. I did. Very little. Of what is taught here. But.
[43:48] This is the purpose. Of. The gospel. That we. Also. Might have this experience. At the end.
[43:58] Of our days. With a short. Weary. And full of sorrow. On this earth. That we. Shall. Be with him. In paradise.
[44:12] There is. That is. What they call. An Hebrew. Is it? Paradise. The God. You know. What a garden.
[44:22] We all know. What a garden is. And. It illustrates. A place. Of. Beauty. Beauty.
[44:33] Spiritual. Beauty. A place. Of rest. A place. Of happiness. This is. South.
[44:44] Destiny. And just. One other word. Character. Is. Destiny. What we are. Now. Here. We shall be.
[44:56] In eternity. And you. Make sure. That you. Trust. This. Savior. In order. That you. Might be. With him. Where he is.
[45:07] Throughout. The. Ageless. Ends. Of. Eternity. May he bless. To us. This word. Let us pray.